What Are the Closest Planets to Earth in Order?

Most people tend to assume Venus is closest, according to recent research; however, according to an alternative viewpoint Mercury could actually be closer.

Live Science reports that most people use an inaccurate method for calculating distance between planets. Averages taken into account, while their distance can change rapidly as planets orbit each other – giving an inaccurate representation.

Mercury

Mercury, our nearest planet to our Sun, is also one of the inner planets with no thick atmosphere to retain heat; therefore its surface temperatures range widely, from as little as -173 degrees Celsius in the evening up to 427 degrees Celsius during daylight.

Mercury’s dark hue can be explained by its high concentration of metallic elements, which melted at higher pressures in its core-mantle boundary and then flowed toward its surface. One notable feature on Mercury is a series of rupes systems formed by thrust faults and bright ray systems formed from impact event remnants.

Mercury takes only 59 Earth days to complete one rotation, making its annual orbital period just 88 Earth days, making it the fastest planet in our Solar System to orbit our Sun.

But sometimes Venus may be closer than Mercury depending on their orbits, making a simple “what are the closest planets to Earth in order?” question difficult to answer with certainty.

Venus

Venus stands a close second in proximity to Earth, being larger and nearly as wide. At its equator, it almost equals Earth in area. Venus features almost entirely carbon dioxide atmosphere with temperatures hotter than our own planet’s. Furthermore, it features dense interior structures including an iron-nickel core and rocky mantel as well as recent volcanic activity and few impact craters, suggesting that Venus may still be relatively young.

Venus shines brighter than any other planet or star except the Moon, making it the focus of ancient religious belief systems. Today, scientists are still learning more about Venus’ surface which features volcanoes and deep valleys; features include Ishtar Terra for South America-sized rocks; Aphrodite Terra with lush plains; and Mt. Venera which stands higher than Everest.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that the order of planets depends on where they are in their orbits around the Sun. Mars could at times come closer than Venus; on average though Mercury remains Earth’s closest neighbor – making determining their order difficult.

Earth

As its name implies, our home planet Earth is the third closest planet to the Sun and features two-thirds of its surface covered by oceans. It is made up of terrestrial terrain with an iron-nickel core providing magnetic protection from harmful solar radiation as well as tide regulation mechanisms. Furthermore, its atmosphere predominantly comprises nitrogen and oxygen with only minor amounts of other gases present.

Venus had long been considered the closest planet to Earth; however, scientists now realize Mercury actually holds this title on average. To understand why, engineers from NASA and Los Alamos National Observatory built a computer simulation of the solar system over 10,000 years and recorded how often each planet came close to passing in front of Earth.

Calculations show that Mars and Venus spend slightly more time near Earth than Mercury; however, that does not make them the nearest planets on average; Mercury passes closer to our star over time and therefore is closer overall.

Mars

Mars, commonly referred to as The Red Planet, is the closest neighboring planet to Earth and often confused with Venus. It boasts a thick reddish-orange crust covered with mountains and valleys and covered with carbon dioxide, nitrogen and water vapor. Because Mars only has one-tenth the gravity as Earth does it does not experience as much geological activity; instead it features dense core of iron and nickel with rocky mantle that has become discolored due to rust accumulation caused by iron oxide build-ups.

Engineers affiliated with NASA, Los Alamos National Observatory and the US Army’s Engineer Research Development Center created a computer simulation of our solar system that allowed them to monitor how close any two planets get over 10,000 years. On average, Mercury tends to be closer to Earth than Venus; however, some days Venus can even come closer.

Phobos and Deimos, two small moons orbiting Mars, have potato shapes due to a lack of mass to support gravity’s pull on them and make them spherical. Both moons have heavy craters with grooves thought to have formed due to meteor impacts; both are slowly moving toward Mars; one could crash into it within 50 million years or break apart leaving behind dusty rings around its planet’s edge.

Jupiter

Jupiter, a gas giant that dwarfs Earth’s moons combined, boasts an intricate system of rings and at least 79 moons; of these are known as Galilean moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto). Jupiter is best known for its storms – particularly its Great Red Spot which resembles a huge nose!

This storm is actually an enormous rotating vortex and one of the most active in our Solar System. Scientists think its rotation may be powered by an internal rock core; however, they haven’t proven this theory yet.

Jupiter’s weather can also be found to follow a cycle similar to our own Earth, with its northern hemisphere experiencing warmer summer temperatures followed by cooling off again in winter months – similar to La Nina/El Nino cycles here on earth.

Important to keep in mind is the fact that planets move at various speeds around Earth; therefore, their exact distances from us can differ considerably at any given moment. To obtain accurate distance information between each of them and our home planet Earth, software designed to calculate positions at specific moments while taking their orbital parameters into account is needed.

Saturn

Saturn, Uranus and Neptune comprise our Solar System’s trio of giant planets: it features stunning rings visible from Earth using a telescope. Like Jupiter, it formed closer to the Sun but then gradually moved outward as our Solar System evolved – its gravity likely helping scatter asteroids and comets across space – some may even impact with early Earth, potentially providing water-bearing asteroids with new home planets like our own!

Saturn boasts the most moons among gas planets with 83 satellites – more than any of the other gas planets combined! Some satellites boast extreme features like hexapods at their northern pole, or two-faced moons like Iapetus which feature bright snow-white sides contrasting against dark coal ones.

Saturn covers 227,349 miles (366,882 kilometers). With an average density of just 0.687 grams per cubic centimeter – less than half that of water – making it one of the least dense planets in our Solar System. Due to rapid rotation, flattening occurs near its poles while bulges appear at the equator forming the shape of an oblate spheroid; like all gas planets it lacks solid surfaces.

Uranus

Finding out which planets are closest to Earth isn’t always straightforward, given that distances can fluctuate widely depending on where a planet sits in its orbit around the Sun. Any one of the inner planets could potentially be close or far away depending on where they sit – even on different days!

Calculations and simulations have confirmed that Mercury is usually the closest planet to Earth. This is likely due to Mercury having one of the smallest orbits among all of the Solar System planets – taking just 88 days!

Venus and Mars tend to be mathematically closer than Mercury most of the time; however, Neptune may often be farther away than either.

Uranus is an intriguing planet adorned with clouds composed of hydrogen sulfide gas – the same chemical responsible for making rotten eggs smell bad! Additionally, Uranus spins on its side with an uneven tilt that causes one half of the planet to experience intense summer sunlight while the other side experiences long dark winter months. Uranus is seventh from Sun and boasts 14 moons including Titania (named after Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream play) and Miranda (from The Tempest story).