Orders of magnitude (energy)


This list compares various energies in joules, organized by order of magnitude.

1 to 105 J

106 to 1011 J

1012 to 1017 J

1018 to 1023 J

Over 1024 J

Factor SI prefixValueItem
1024yotta- 2.31×1024JTotal energy of the Sudbury impact event
1024yotta- 2.69×1024JRotational energy of Venus, which has a sidereal period of 243 Earth days. The anomalously low value derives its origin from the deceleration of its rotation by atmospheric tides induced by the Sun.
1024yotta- 3.8×1024JRadiative heat energy released from the Earth's surface each year
1024yotta- 5.5×1024JTotal energy from the Sun that strikes the face of the Earth each year
10254×1025JTotal energy of the Carrington Event in 1859
1026>1026JEstimated energy of early Archean asteroid impacts
10263.2×1026JBolometric energy of Proxima Centauri's superflare in March 2016. In one year, potentially five similar superflares erupts from the surface of the red dwarf.
10263.828×1026JTotal radiative energy output of the Sun per second, as defined by the IAU.
1027ronna- 1×1027JEstimated energy released by the impact that created the Caloris basin on Mercury.
1027ronna- 1×1027JUpper limit of the most energetic solar flares possible
1027ronna- 5.19×1027JThermal input necessary to evaporate all surface water on Earth. Note that the evaporated water still remains on Earth, merely in vapor form.
1027ronna- 4.2×1027JKinetic energy of a regulation baseball thrown at the speed of the Oh-My-God particle, itself a cosmic ray proton with the kinetic energy of a baseball thrown at 60mph.
10283.845×1028JKinetic energy of the Moon in its orbit around the Earth
10287×1028JTotal energy of the stellar superflare from V1355 Orionis
10292.1×1029JRotational energy of the Earth
1030quetta-1.79×1030JRough estimate of the gravitational binding energy of Mercury.
10312×1031JThe Theia Impact, the most energetic event ever in Earth's history
10313.3×1031JTotal energy output of the Sun each day
10321.71×1032JGravitational binding energy of the Earth
10323.10×1032JYearly energy output of Sirius B, the ultra-dense and Earth-sized white dwarf companion of Sirius, the Dog Star. It has a surface temperature of about 25,200 K.
10332.7×1033JEarth's kinetic energy at perihelion in its orbit around the Sun
10341.2×1034JTotal energy output of the Sun each year
10344.13×1034JRotational energy of Jupiter, calculated using an updated value for the moment of inertia factor of 0.26393 ± 0.00001.
10353.5×1035JThe most energetic stellar superflare to date
10387.53×1038JBaryonic mass-energy contained in a volume of one cubic light-year, on average.
1039 2–5×1039 JEnergy of the giant flare released by SGR 1806-20
1039 6.60×1039 JTheoretical total mass–energy of the Moon
1040 1.61×1040JBaryonic mass-energy contained in a volume of one cubic parsec, on average.
10412.28×1041JGravitational binding energy of the Sun
10415.37×1041JMass–energy equivalent of the Earth
10435×1043JTotal energy of all gamma rays in a typical gamma-ray burst if collimated
1043>1043 JTotal energy in a typical optical transient">Visible spectrum">optical transient
1044~1044 JAverage value of a Tidal Disruption Event in optical/UV bands
1044~1044 JEstimated kinetic energy released by FBOT CSS161010
1044~1044JTotal energy released in a typical supernova, sometimes referred to as a foe.
10441.23×1044JApproximate lifetime energy output of the Sun.
10441.71×1044JMass-energy equivalent of Jupiter, the most massive planet in our Solar System
1044Total energy of a typical gamma-ray burst if collimated
10445.8 × 1044JKinetic energy of the star S2 as it made its closest approach to Sagittarius A*, the galactic center SMBH, at 7,650 km/s on May 2018.
1045~1045 JEstimated energy released in a hypernova and pair instability supernova
10451045 JEnergy released by the energetic supernova, SN 2016aps
10451.7-1.9×1045JEnergy released by hypernova ASASSN-15lh
10452.3×1045 JEnergy released by the energetic supernova PS1-10adi
1045>1045 JEstimated energy of a magnetorotational hypernova
1045>1045JTotal energy of hyper-energetic gamma-ray burst if collimated
1046>1046JEstimated energy in theoretical quark-novae
1046~1046JUpper limit of the total energy of a supernova
10461.5×1046JTotal energy of the most energetic optical non-quasar transient, AT2021lwx
10462.5×1046JEstimated upper limit of Extreme Nuclear Transients, an extreme version of TDEs discovered in 2025
10471045-47 JEstimated energy of stellar mass rotational black holes by vacuum polarization in an electromagnetic field
10471047 JTotal energy of a very energetic and relativistic jetted Tidal Disruption Event
1047~1047 JUpper limit of collimated- corrected total energy of a gamma-ray burst
10471.8×1047JTheoretical total mass–energy of the Sun
10475.4×1047JMass–energy emitted as gravitational waves during the merger of two black holes, originally about 30 Solar masses each, as observed by LIGO
10478.6×1047JMass–energy emitted as gravitational waves during the most energetic black hole merger observed until 2020
10478.8×1047JGRB 080916C – formerly the most powerful gamma-ray burst ever recorded – total/true isotropic energy output estimated at 8.8 × 1047 joules, or 4.9 times the Sun's mass turned to energy
10481048 JEstimated energy of a supermassive Population III star supernova, denominated "General Relativistic Instability Supernova."
1048~1.2×1048 JApproximate energy released in the most energetic black hole merging to date, which originated the first intermediate-mass black hole ever detected
10481.2–3×1048 JGRB 221009A – the most powerful gamma-ray burst ever recorded – total/true isotropic energy output estimated at 1.2–3 × 1048 joules
1050≳1050 JUpper limit of isotropic energy of Population III stars Gamma-Ray Bursts.
1053>1053 JMechanical energy of very energetic so-called "quasar tsunamis"
10536×1053JTotal mechanical energy or enthalpy in the powerful AGN outburst in the RBS 797
10537.65×1053JMass-energy of Sagittarius A*, Milky Way's central supermassive black hole
10543×1054JTotal mechanical energy or enthalpy in the powerful AGN outburst in the Hercules A
1055>1055JTotal mechanical energy or enthalpy in the powerful AGN outburst in the MS 0735.6+7421, Ophiuchus [Supercluster eruption|Ophiucus Supercluster Explosion] and supermassive black holes mergings
1057~1057 JEstimated rotational energy of M87 SMBH and total energy of the most luminous quasars over Gyr time-scales
1057~2×1057 JEstimated thermal energy of the Bullet Cluster of galaxies
10577.3×1057 JMass-energy equivalent of the ultramassive black hole TON 618, an extremely luminous quasar / active galactic nucleus.
1058~1058 JEstimated total energy of galaxy clusters mergings
10584×1058JVisible mass–energy in our galaxy, the Milky Way
10591×1059JTotal mass–energy of our galaxy, the Milky Way, including dark matter and dark energy
10591.4×1059JMass-energy of the Andromeda galaxy, ~0.8 trillion solar masses.
10621–2×1062JTotal mass–energy of the Virgo Supercluster including dark matter, the Supercluster which contains the Milky Way
10661.207×1066JAverage mass-energy of ordinary matter contained within one cubic gigaparsec in the observable universe.
10701.462×1070JRough estimate of total mass–energy of ordinary matter present in the observable universe.
10713.177×1071JRough estimate of total mass-energy within our observable universe, accounting for all forms of matter and energy.