What Planet is Closest to Earth Right Now?

Most people believe Venus to be our nearest planet; after all, its brightness makes it easy for it to be noticed against our skies, especially as a glowing crescent Moon in the evening twilight or just before sunrise appears close by. However, Mercury actually comes closer.

But that is only part of the picture; engineers at Los Alamos National Observatory have conducted calculations that suggest Mercury as being closer than previously believed.

Mercury

Mercury, as the Romans named it after their god of commerce and speed, is the fastest moving planet in our solar system and its orbit around the Sun is breathtakingly fast. A world covered with mountains and canyons suggestive of cosmic collisions and geological activity has left its marks across this fascinating and mysterious rock planet, known by many names including Mercury by Romans who once called it their home planet.

Mercury may be nearer the Sun than most planets, yet it can still be difficult to observe with naked eye. Venus and Mars tend to overshadow Mercury; both can easily be seen with binoculars in the evening sky. Yet thanks to missions like NASA’s MESSENGER probe, astronomers are beginning to gain more of an understanding of this mysterious world.

Scientists from the US Army Engineer Research Development Center, Los Alamos National Observatory and University of Colorado designed a computer simulation in order to obtain an accurate picture of our solar system’s relative distances between planets. After 10,000 years, these planetary orbits continued their course as scientists measured average distance between any two of them at any one time.

They discovered that Earth’s distance from its nearest neighbours varies, but tends to decrease with increased radius of an innermost planet’s orbit, so Mercury tends to stay closer than either Venus or Mars; consequently, Mercury spends much more time nearer Earth than either of these other planets do.

Researchers at Stanford have published their work in Physics Today with a striking result, coined “Whirly Dirly Corollary,” that stems from a fundamental law known as Proportionality Principle which states that for objects in roughly circular, concentric and coplanar orbits their average distance will be proportional to the square of their innermost radius of orbits.

On July 7, Mercury will reach inferior conjunction with the Sun. Look out for it low in west-northwest twilight with a thin crescent Moon nearby; over time it will slowly fade.

Venus

People often mistake Venus for Earth when asked which planet is nearest. After all, its bright glow dominates the night sky from sunrise to sunset and most would presume that Venus was closer than Mercury based on appearance alone. But that may not be accurate: Engineers from NASA, Los Alamos National Observatory and US Army’s Engineer Research Development Center conducted computer simulations to calculate how close each of our three nearest planets really is over 10,000 years. The simulation resulted in calculated average distances between each pair of planets as opposed to just using appearance alone.

Simulation showed that over this decade Mercury spent approximately 1.14 astronomical units (AUs), while Venus came within 1.04 AUs of being at its nearest point to us – although these numbers varied throughout.

As an example, during 1990-1991 Venus was much closer to Earth than it is currently; but from 1992-1993 its distance increased due to its orbit changing over time and passing nearer its nearest planet more frequently.

Mars may appear near or distant from Venus depending on how long it takes for the Sun to move behind or in front of it, which is why when calculating an average distance between two planets it is crucial that any formula used takes all orbital periods into account.

Scientists are still trying to understand why Venus is so hot, and whether or not there once existed an ocean. One clue could be found in its atmosphere’s ability to absorb much of the Sun’s infrared radiation without emitting enough back into space for it to radiate back out – acting like an energy trap and heating up its surface.

Mars

When asked which planet is closest, most would answer “Venus or Mars”. But when space agencies plan manned missions to other planets, knowing where their nearest one lies is an integral factor – but finding out isn’t as straightforward as you may think!

Planets don’t remain still; therefore their distance varies with every orbit around the Sun and according to time of year and phase of each respective orbit.

These factors make it hard to know which planet is closest at any moment, which prompted researcher Sam Stockman in 2019 to tackle this puzzle head on. He collected data from observatories and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and created an algorithm which determined which planet had been most frequently nearest Earth over the past fifty years.

Unexpectedly, Mercury proved closer than Venus; Mars only being our closest neighbor 18% of the time. This provides a novel perspective and illustrates that when it comes to understanding what planet is closest, there may be multiple answers.

Mars is a reddish-orange planet which orbits the Sun at an unparalleled distance. Covered with iron oxide, which gives its surface its signature orange hue that makes it easily detectable using telescopes, it also boasts an atmosphere composed of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, argon, water vapor and trace amounts of methane that gives its atmosphere its distinctive tan hue and is about 1,000 times less dense than Earth’s atmosphere.

Mars’ elliptical orbit makes its seasons even more extreme than any other planet’s: when at its closest approach, Mars’ southern hemisphere faces toward our star and experiences a short but warm summer; at aphelion, however, its north polar region faces away from our star and experiences an extended and cold winter season.

Mars boasts two moons named Phobos and Deimos that measure approximately 15 feet (4.6 meters). Scientists speculate that these could have once been asteroids captured by its gravitational pull before being pulled slowly towards it by their gravitational pull; eventually, these moons may collide or collapese creating a debris cloud surrounding Mars.

Jupiter

Jupiter will be easy to spot this week thanks to opposition, when Earth, Jupiter and Sun all align perfectly and thus increase visibility of our Solar System’s largest planet. On Monday it will reach its closest point ever seen by humanity since 1960 – making it even brighter and more visible than usual! Opposition is when all three bodies align perfectly, increasing visibility.

Jupiter has an enormous diameter–over 1,300 times greater than Earth–and its vast volume could accommodate over 1,300 Earths. The vibrant hues are created by jet streams which break apart cloud layers into dark belts and brilliant zones along long stretches of its planet’s surface, and its fast rotation whips up winds which create swirling patterns to give this world its unique appearance.

Under ideal stargazing conditions, you will be able to spot Earth’s Great Red Spot as an immense eye peering out from among vibrant clouds. This massive bulge in space results from intense storms churning up a mixture of hydrogen and helium gas within its interior.

Jupiter may seem closer, yet its orbit is farther from the Sun than Venus’. This is due to how our Solar System revolves in flattened circles rather than perfect ones; thus causing its planets to cross paths at different times and distances from its centre.

Venus currently lies closer to Earth than Mars due to their orbits’ interplay; depending on when Mars moves closer again due to their timing of their orbits. Over time however, Mars will pass by Venus again, so in the meantime take time out to observe these two bright planets in our evening sky and take time out to teach children more about our Solar System by reading up on this article from NASA Science which offers fun yet educational content about space exploration!