Basic Planetary Data
Updated June 26, 2019 |
Infoplease Staff
| Mercury | Venus | Earth | Mars | Jupiter | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean distance from Sun (millions of kilometers) | 57.9 | 108.2 | 149.6 | 227.9 | 778.3 |
| Mean distance from Sun (millions of miles) | 36.0 | 67.24 | 92.9 | 141.71 | 483.88 |
| Period of revolution | 88 days | 224.7 days | 365.2 days | 687 days | 11.86 yrs |
| Rotation period | 59 days | 243 days retrograde | 23 hr 56 min 4 sec | 24 hr 37 min | 9 hr 55 min 30 sec |
| Inclination of axis | Near 0° | 3° | 23°27' | 25° 12' | 3° 5' |
| Inclination of orbit to ecliptic | 7° | 3.4° | 0° | 1.9° | 1.3° |
| Eccentricity of orbit | .206 | .007 | .017 | .093 | .048 |
| Equatorial diameter (kilometers) | 4,880 | 12,100 | 12,756 | 6,794 | 142,800 |
| (miles) | 3,032.4 | 7,519 | 7,926.2 | 4,194 | 88,736 |
| Atmosphere (main components) | Virtually none | Carbon dioxide | Nitrogen oxygen | Carbon dioxide | Hydrogen helium |
| Satellites | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 631 |
| Rings | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Saturn | Uranus | Neptune | Pluto5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean distance from Sun (millions of kilometers) | 1,427 | 2,870 | 4,497 | 5,900 |
| Mean distance from Sun (millions of miles) | 887.14 | 1,783.98 | 2,796.46 | 3,666 |
| Period of revolution | 29.46 yrs | 84 yrs | 165 yrs | 248 yrs |
| Rotation period | 10 hr 40 min 24 sec | 16.8 hr (?) retrograde | 16 hr 11 min (?) | 6 days 9 hr 18 mins retrograde |
| Inclination of axis | 26°44' | 97°55' | 28°48' | 60° (?) |
| Inclination of orbit to ecliptic | 2.5° | 0.8° | 1.8° | 17.2° |
| Eccentricity of orbit | .056 | .047 | .009 | .254 |
| Equatorial diameter (kilometers) | 120,660 | 51,810 | 49,528 | 2,290 (?) |
| (miles) | 74,978 | 32,193 | 30,775 | 1,423 (?) |
| Atmosphere (main components) | Hydrogen helium | Helium hydrogen methane | Hydrogen helium methane | None detected |
| Satellites | 562 | 273 | 134 | 36 |
| Rings | 1,000 (?) | 11 | 4 | ? |
1. Forty-five of these moons were discovered only recently, from 2000–2003.
2. Nine new moons were announced in June 2006: S/2004 S19 and S/2006 S1 through S/2006 S8.
3. S/2001 U2 and S/2003 U3 were announced in Fall 2003. 4. S/2003 N1 was announced in Fall 2003.
5. In 2006, the IAU declared Pluto to be a dwarf planet.
6. Two new moons were sighted by the Hubble Space Telescope in Oct. 2005 and confirmed in Feb. 2006.
Source: Basic NASA data and other sources.
| The Moon's Phases | The Solar System | Mercury |
Trending
Here are the facts and trivia that people are buzzing about.
