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When Earth is stated or assumed to be the reference point: "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 outer planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, compared to the inner planets Earth, Venus, Mars, and Mercury at the bottom right The four outer planets, called giant planets or Jovian planets, collectively make up 99% of the mass orbiting the Sun. [ h ] All four giant planets have multiple moons and a ring system, although only Saturn's ...
Mars 24' north of Jupiter 18.2° West May 10, 2011 22:46:50 Mercury 2°12' south of Jupiter 25.3° West May 11, 2011 09:14:56 Venus 37' south of Jupiter 25.7° West May 20, 2011 01:17:23 Mercury 2°21' south of Mars 22.2° West May 22, 2011 15:13:00 Venus 1°03' south of Mars 22.7° West August 15, 2011 23:17:56 Mercury 6°21' south of Venus
Mars comes closer to Earth more than any other planet save Venus at its nearest—56 million km is the closest distance between Mars and Earth, whereas the closest Venus comes to Earth is 40 million km. Mars comes closest to Earth every other year, around the time of its opposition, when Earth is sweeping between the Sun and Mars. Extra-close ...
Over the period 4–6 February 1962, in a rare series of events, Mercury and Venus reached conjunction as observed from the Earth, followed by Venus and Jupiter, then by Mars and Saturn. Conjunctions took place between the Moon and, in turn, Mars, Saturn, the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter. Mercury also reached inferior conjunction with the Sun.
The evolution of the apparent diameter and phases of Venus. A planetary phase is a certain portion of a planet's area that reflects sunlight as viewed from a given vantage point, as well as the period of time during which it occurs. The phase is determined by the phase angle, which is the angle between the planet, the Sun and the Earth.
While Venus approaches Earth the closest, Mercury approaches Earth more often the closest of all planets. [11] That said, Venus and Earth still have the lowest gravitational potential difference between them than to any other planet, needing the lowest delta-v to transfer between them, than to any other planet from them. [12] [13]
The variation in magnitude caused by changes in elongation are greater the closer the planet's orbit is to the Earth's. Mars' magnitude in particular changes with elongation: it can be as low as +1.8 when in conjunction near aphelion but at a rare favourable opposition it is as high as −2.9, which translates to seventy-five times brighter ...