Basic Planetary Data

Updated June 26, 2019 | Infoplease Staff
Mercury Venus Earth MarsJupiter
Mean distance from Sun
(millions of kilometers)
57.9 108.2 149.6 227.9 778.3
Mean distance from Sun
(millions of miles)
36.0 67.24 92.9 141.71 483.88
Period of revolution 88 days 224.7 days 365.2 days 687 days 11.86 yrs
Rotation period 59 days 243 days
retrograde
23 hr
56 min
4 sec
24 hr
37 min
9 hr
55 min
30 sec
Inclination of axis Near 0° 23°27' 25° 12' 3° 5'
Inclination of orbit
to ecliptic
3.4° 1.9° 1.3°
Eccentricity of orbit .206 .007 .017 .093 .048
Equatorial diameter
(kilometers)
4,880 12,100 12,756 6,794 142,800
(miles) 3,032.4 7,519 7,926.2 4,194 88,736
Atmosphere
(main components)
Virtually
none
Carbon
dioxide
Nitrogen
oxygen
Carbon
dioxide
Hydrogen
helium
Satellites 0 0 1 2 631
Rings 0 0 0 0 3
Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto5
Mean distance from Sun
(millions of kilometers)
1,427 2,870 4,497 5,900
Mean distance from Sun
(millions of miles)
887.14 1,783.98 2,796.46 3,666
Period of revolution 29.46 yrs 84 yrs 165 yrs 248 yrs
Rotation period 10 hr
40 min
24 sec
16.8 hr (?)
retrograde
16 hr
11 min (?)
6 days 9 hr
18 mins
retrograde
Inclination of axis 26°44' 97°55' 28°48' 60° (?)
Inclination of orbit
to ecliptic
2.5° 0.8° 1.8° 17.2°
Eccentricity of orbit .056 .047 .009 .254
Equatorial diameter
(kilometers)
120,660 51,810 49,528 2,290 (?)
(miles) 74,978 32,193 30,775 1,423 (?)
Atmosphere
(main components)
Hydrogen
helium
Helium
hydrogen
methane
Hydrogen
helium
methane
None
detected
Satellites 56227313436
Rings 1,000 (?) 11 4 ?
1. Forty-five of these moons were discovered only recently, from 2000–2003.
2. Nine new moons were announced in June 2006: S/2004 S19 and S/2006 S1 through S/2006 S8.
3. S/2001 U2 and S/2003 U3 were announced in Fall 2003. 4. S/2003 N1 was announced in Fall 2003.
5. In 2006, the IAU declared Pluto to be a dwarf planet.
6. Two new moons were sighted by the Hubble Space Telescope in Oct. 2005 and confirmed in Feb. 2006.
Source: Basic NASA data and other sources.

The Moon's PhasesThe Solar SystemMercury
The Solar System
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