Planet Distance to Sun | How Far Are The Planets From The Sun?

Planet distance to sun

Planet Distance to Sun

You must be wondering the planet distance to Sun. The distance between the Earth and the Sun defines the astronomical unit, which is by convention 150 million km (93.2 million miles).

Jupiter, the largest planet, is 5.2 AU from the Sun and has a radius of 71,000 km (44,117 miles), while the farthest planet, Neptune, is approximately 30 AU from the Sun. With a few exceptions, the further a planet or belt is from the Sun, the greater the distance between its orbit and the orbit of the next object closest to the Sun.

Read also: The order of the planets closest to the sun

For example, Venus is about 0.33 AU farther from the Sun than Mercury, while Saturn is about 4.3 AU farther from Jupiter, and Neptune’s orbit is 10.5 AU farther than Uranus. In the past, astronomers have tried to determine a relationship between these orbital distances, notably the Titius-Bode law, but no such theory has finally been validated.

Planet (or Dwarf Planet)Distance from the Sun
(Astronomical Units
miles
km)
Period of Revolution Around the Sun
(1 planetary year)
Period of Rotation
(1 planetary day)
Mass
(kg)
Diameter
(miles
km)
Apparent size
from Earth
Temperature
(K
Range or Average)
Number of Moons
Mercury0.39 AU, 36 million miles
57.9 million km
87.96 Earth days58.7 Earth days3.3 x 10233,031 miles
4,878 km
5-13 arc seconds100-700 K
mean=452 K
0
Venus0.723 AU
67.2 million miles
108.2 million km
224.68 Earth days243 Earth days4.87 x 10247,521 miles
12,104 km
10-64 arc seconds726 K0
Earth1 AU
93 million miles
149.6 million km
365.26 days24 hours5.98 x 10247,926 miles
12,756 km
Not Applicable260-310 K1
Mars1.524 AU
141.6 million miles
227.9 million km
686.98 Earth days24.6 Earth hours
=1.026 Earth days
6.42 x 10234,222 miles
6,787 km
4-25 arc seconds150-310 K2
Jupiter5.203 AU
483.6 million miles
778.3 million km
11.862 Earth years9.84 Earth hours1.90 x 102788,729 miles
142,796 km
31-48 arc seconds120 K
(cloud tops)
67 (18 named plus many smaller ones)
Saturn9.539 AU
886.7 million miles
1,427.0 million km
29.456 Earth years10.2 Earth hours5.69 x 102674,600 miles
120,660 km
15-21 arc seconds
excluding rings
88 K62 (30 unnamed)
Uranus19.18 AU
1,784.0 million miles
2,871.0 million km
84.07 Earth years17.9 Earth hours8.68 x 102532,600 miles
51,118 km
3-4 arc seconds59 K27 (6 unnamed)
Neptune30.06 AU
2,794.4 million miles
4,497.1 million km
164.81 Earth years19.1 Earth hours1.02 x 102630,200 miles
48,600 km
2.5 arc seconds48 K13
Pluto (a dwarf planet)39.53 AU
3,674.5 million miles
5,913 million km
247.7 years6.39 Earth days1.29 x 10221,413 miles
2,274 km
0.04 arc seconds37 K4

Note: Pluto is no longer considered a planet since August 24, 2006.

How many years do you need to drive from the Sun to the following planets?

Good! But let’s move on to more meaningful figures: Let’s take a good car (preferably very comfortable) and travel the Solar System, say at a constant speed of 100 km/h (62.13 mp/h). Starting from the Sun, here are the necessary travel times:

  • Mercury 66 years
  • Venus 123 years
  • Earth 171 years
  • Mars 260 years
  • Asteroid belt 480 years
  • Jupiter 890 years
  • Saturn 1600 years
  • Uranus 3250 years
  • Neptune 5100 years
  • Pluto 6800 years

Sources: Wikipedia, Nasa

Photo source: Wikimedia Commons

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