The Closest Planet From Earth

Finding out which planet is closest to Earth requires using various calculations. Venus often holds this title; however, that could change depending on when she aligns with the Sun.

A new calculation, using the point-circle method, takes time into account and puts Mercury at the top of the list.

Mercury

Mercury, as the smallest planet in our Solar System, orbits at an impressively close distance from us – just 88 Earth days is required to complete one full orbit around our Sun! Due to its thick atmosphere trapping heat from the Sun during daylight hours and making Mercury even hotter during its shorter days than without its greenhouse effect effect.

Mercury orbit is an elliptical one, so its distance from Earth varies significantly over its lifecycle. At superior conjunction every 584 days, when Sun is behind Mercury and most illuminated, Mercury comes closest.

Planet Mercury is the smallest planet in our Solar System and closest to the Sun; as such it does not possess any moons. Furthermore, Mercury is also the fastest planet, traveling at approximately 112,000 mph (180,000 km/h). Mercury’s highly cratered greyish-brown surface features bright streaks of sunlight known as “crater rays,” caused when meteoroids or comets strike its surface and create large holes whose fragments then disperse into orbit with fine debris of impact reflecting sunlight back onto its surface surface.

Astronomers used to determine the closest planet based on an average distance between two bodies throughout their orbits; however, this was flawed since it did not take into account when two planets are close together. To address this flaw, engineers from NASA and Los Alamos National Observatory devised a computer simulation running over 10,000 years. It revealed Mercury is closest on average than Venus or Mars – this phenomenon being known as “whirly-dirly corollary.” Our new calculation also shows Mercury to be our nearest neighbor among all planets with similar orbital distances.

Venus

Venus is the second-brightest object in our sky after the Sun and can be easily seen during sunset and sunrise from Earth. Due to its dense clouds reflecting around 70% of sunlight that reaches it, making Venus appear like a bright star; thus earning it the name Morning or Evening Star respectively.

Venus may not be the closest planet to Earth in terms of average distance; that distinction belongs to Mercury, which averagely gets closer. Mercury also follows an elliptical orbit and does not reach as close as Venus does when close to our planet.

Venus can be found approximately 67 million miles from Earth at its closest approach, though at times it may appear further away than this estimate. Venus remains our second-closest planet.

Venus is covered in clouds made up of sulfuric acid that reflect most of the sunlight that hits it, making it one of the hottest planets in our solar system. At such high temperatures, liquid water cannot exist on Venus itself – however scientists have discovered evidence of past volcanic activity on its surface.

Venus has an iron-nickel core with trace amounts of other metals. Its thick atmosphere primarily comprises carbon dioxide. Strong winds at cloud tops enable super rotation; their wind speeds are roughly 10-20 times that of Venus itself.

At Venus, life would be uncomfortably hot if spent for just one day – temperatures can reach as high as 900 Fahrenheit (475 Celsius)! Each Venus day lasts 243 Earth days during which the Sun rises and sets.

Due to Venus’ harsh environment, spacecraft are seldom successful at landing there. In the 1970s, Soviet Venera probes successfully made landing attempts that greatly increased our understanding of this planet. On Feb 5, 1974, Mariner 10 became the first spacecraft ever to fly twice by Venus using gravity from both planets as an inducer to travel back towards Mercury and back again on its mission.

Mars

The Red Planet has long captivated humankind. Its rugged terrain and unsolved mysteries make it one of the most fascinating planets to explore, providing inspiration for science, literature, and culture alike. Planet Venus is the fourth closest to Earth and one of the easiest planets to spot in our night sky, appearing as a bright red point of light. Centuries of careful observation by humans and spacecraft since the 1960s has revealed that Mars resembles Earth in many ways, including clouds, winds, day/night cycles, seasonal weather patterns and polar ice caps. Furthermore, Mars boasts two small moons named Phobos and Deimos that lack enough mass for gravity to make them spherical; their names refer to Greek gods of fear and terror respectively.

Mars’ polar ice caps contain evidence of past water flow, though conditions now prevent this from happening. Like Earth, its tilt on its axis alters how much sunlight falls on different areas, leading to seasonal variations on its surface and altering atmospheric chemistry – sometimes more carbon molecules that form organic compounds forming due to this effect.

Mars’ low atmosphere significantly decreases surface temperatures, but also means it receives half as much solar energy compared to Earth and so its surface remains extremely cold – probably making life impossible there for any substantial period in history, while unlikely supporting permanent habitats currently.

Due to their elliptical orbits around the Sun, both planets may pass closer together at certain times than any other. This phenomenon gives Venus its reputation of being closer than any other planet to Earth; in reality this depends on their positions relative to each other which can be affected by other factors like Jupiter. When they come closest together at times such as a Venus-Earth conjunction that occurs every 584 days.

Jupiter

If asked which planet is closest to Earth, most would probably name Venus. After all, its surface area is roughly one-third that of ours and it orbits closer around the Sun than us. But Mercury, the smallest planet in our solar system, actually lies closer than ever on average.

Reason being, all planets’ orbits are not circular; therefore their distance from us varies over time. For example, Venus can reach as close to us as 67-million miles at its aphelion point but can stretch out as far as 108 million miles when at its perihelion (farthest point in its orbit), an event which occurs approximately once every 584 days.

Scientists use computer simulations of the solar system over 10k years in order to ascertain which planet is closest to Earth on average, taking into account all points where each planet comes close to the Sun or Earth and takes into account where each one passes closest along its orbit around us. Mercury turns out to be closest, followed by Venus and Mars respectively.

Surprisingly, however, the results do not reveal Jupiter as being Earth’s closest planet on average even though it can come close 47% of the time. This could be explained by Jupiter’s more elliptical orbit requiring it to make more corrections than other planets do requiring corrections on an orbital basis.

So when someone asks which planet is closest to Earth, don’t be taken by surprise when you have to correct them: Mercury is our closest neighbor in our solar system – with its unique geology, extreme weather patterns and unsolved mysteries making Mercury one of our solar system’s most fascinating planets that deserves more exposure; space exploration technologies will surely advance over time as well.