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Encyclopedia > Characteristics of planets

CHARACTERISTICS OF PLANETS


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Name of the planet
 
Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto (*)
Number of satellites  0   0   1   2   80   83+3   27   14+1   5 
Semi-major axis in astronomical units 0.3870983  0.7233298  1.0000010  1.5236793  5.202603  9.554909  19.21845  30.11039  39.54470 
Semi-major axis in millions of km  57.909083  108.2086 149.5980  227.9392 778.2983  1429.394  2875.039  4504.450  5915.803 
Eccentricity of the orbit 0.20563 0.00677 0.01671 0.09340 0.04850 0.05555 0.04638 0.00946 0.2490
Inclination of orbit on ecliptic 7°.0050 3°.3947 1°.8497 1°.3033 2°.4889 0°.7732 1°.7700 17°.1422
Inclination of equator on ecliptic 0.01° 177.36° 23.44° 25.19° 3.13° 26.73° 97.86° 28.31° 122.52°
Period of sidereal revolution  87.9693 d  224.701 d  365.256 d  1 year & 321.730 d  11 years & 314,84 d  29 years & 166,98 d   84 years & 7,48 d  164 years & 281,3 d   247 years & 362 d 
Period of rotation  58.65 d 243.02 d 23.935 hr 24.62 hr 9.92 hr 10.66 hr 17.24 hr  16.11 hr 6.39 d
Apparent equatorial diameter  maximum 13.0"  65.4"  25.7"  50.1"  20.8"  4.1"  2.11"  0.1" 
Equatorial diameter (Earth=1)  0.3825  0.9488  0.5326  11.2089  9.4335  4.0073  3.8826  0.1874 
Equatorial diameter  
in km
4879.4 12103.6 12756.28 6794 142 984 120 536 51 118 49 528 2390
Flatness  1/298.257  1/154  1/15.4  1/10.2  1/44 1/59 0
Volume (Earth=1)  0.056  0.85  0.15  1317  757  62.9  57.5  0.007
Mass (Sun=1)  1/6023600 1/408523.71 1/332946.045 1/3 098 708 1/1 047.5654 1/3498.77 1/22905.35 1/19416.3 1/1.56.10-8
Mass (Earth=1)  0.055  0.815  0.107  317.83  95.16  14.54  17.15  0.0021 
Mass (kg)  3.3018.1023 4.8685.1024 5.9736.1024 6.4185.1023 1.8986.1027 5.6846.1026 8.6831.1025 1.0243.1026 1.238.1022
Mass (kg)
planet+satellites
3.3018.1023 4.8685.1024 6.0471.1024 6.4185.1023 1.899.1027 5.686.1026 8.684.1025 1.0246.1026 1.432.1022
Density (Earth=1) 0.984  0.95  0.71  0.24  0.125  0.23  0.30  0.31 
Density (Water=1) 5.43  5.24  5.515  3.93  1.33  0.69  1.27  1.64  1.73 
Gravity at surface (Earth=1) 0.38  0.90  0.38  2.53  1.07  0.90  1.14  0.06 
Apparent diameter of the Sun as seen from the planet 1° 23' 44' 32' 21' 6' 3' 21" 1' 40" 1' 49"
Magnitude of the Sun as seen from the planet -28.9 -27.5 -26.8 -25.9 -23.2 -21.9 -20.4 -19.4 -18.8

Note 1: in the table above, one year = 365.25 days ; in the table, day is written d and hour is written hr.

Note 2: Pluto has been kept in the table -even it is no more a planet- in order to be able to make comparisons.

Credit: IMCCE


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