The above mass is about 332,946 times the mass of the Earth or 1,048 times the mass of Jupiter. The value of the gravitational constant was derived from measurements that were made by Henry Cavendish in 1798 with a torsion balance. The value he obtained differs by only 1% from the modern value. The diurnal parallax of the Sun was accurately measur... Found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_mass