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Earth orbits the Sun, making Earth the third-closest planet to the Sun and part of the inner Solar System. Earth's average orbital distance is about 150 million km (93 million mi), which is the basis for the astronomical unit (AU) and is equal to roughly 8.3 light minutes or 380 times Earth's distance to the Moon .
"Inferior planet" refers to Mercury and Venus, which are closer to the Sun than Earth is. "Superior planet" refers to Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune (the latter two added later), which are further from the Sun than Earth is. The terms are sometimes used more generally; for example, Earth is an inferior planet relative to Mars.
The average thickness of the planet's crust is about 50 km, and it is no thicker than 125 kilometres (78 mi), [33] which is much thicker than Earth's crust which varies between 5 kilometres (3 mi) and 70 kilometres (43 mi). As a result, Mars' crust does not easily deform, as was shown by the recent radar map of the south polar ice cap which ...
Planet V, a planet thought by John Chambers and Jack Lissauer to have once existed between Mars and the asteroid belt, based on computer simulations. Various planets beyond Neptune: Planet Nine, a planet proposed to explain apparent alignments in the orbits of a number of distant trans-Neptunian objects. Planet X, a hypothetical planet beyond ...
Thus the planet cannot be gaseous, and must be composed of heavier elements that are also cosmically abundant like carbon and oxygen; making it likely crystalline like a diamond. [ 39 ] PSR J1719-1438 is a 5.7 millisecond pulsar found to have a companion with a mass similar to Jupiter but a density of 23 g/cm 3 , suggesting that the companion ...
When discovered, Charon, the moon of Pluto, was found to be very large, leading to the declaration by many that the Pluto-Charon system was a double planet (binary planet). The 2006 IAU redefinition of planet excludes the possibility of double planets. [24] [25] [26] 15760 Albion: 1992 unknown Trans-Neptunian object
The timeline of discovery of Solar System planets and their natural satellites charts the progress of the discovery of new bodies over history. Each object is listed in chronological order of its discovery (multiple dates occur when the moments of imaging, observation, and publication differ), identified through its various designations (including temporary and permanent schemes), and the ...
An Alderson disk [1] [2] (named after Dan Alderson, its originator) is a hypothetical artificial astronomical megastructure, like Larry Niven's Ringworld and the Dyson sphere. The disk is a giant platter with a thickness of several thousand miles. The Sun rests in the hole at the center of the disk.