SOLAR SYSTEM DATA
Mean Distance
from the Sun Sidereal
__________________ Rotation period
period
Diameter Diameter MILLIONS Distance Minutes (time to
in miles compared of in AUs from (length orbit
to Earth miles Sun * of day) the Sun
SUN 864,432 109.00 0.0 0.00 0.00 25d 06h 52m ------
MERCURY 3,013 0.38 35.9 0.387 3.21 58d 03h 11m 87d.969
VENUS 7,543 0.95 67.2 0.723 6.01 244d 07h 12m 224d.701
EARTH 7,926 1.00 92.9 1.000 8.32 23h 56m 365d.256
Moon 2,160 0.27 27d 07h43m
MARS 4,219 0.53 141.6 1.523 12.67 24h 37m 1y.880
JUPITER 88,980 11.22 483.6 5.202 43.27 9h 50m 11y.862
SATURN 74,560 9.40 886.7 9.538 79.33 10h 39m 29y.457
URANUS 32,190 4.06 1783.1 19.181 159.53 15h 36m 84y.013
NEPTUNE 30,760 3.88 2797.1 30.057 250.26 18h 12m 164y.793
PLUTO 1,863 0.23 3666.3 39.440 328.02 6d 09h 17m 248y.530
Distance from Earth to the Moon = 235,000 miles. It takes 1.26 seconds for light reflected from the Moon to reach Earth.
Distance from Earth to the Sun = 92,958,000 miles (or 1 Astronomical Unit). It takes 8 minutes and 19 seconds for the Sun's light to reach Earth.
Distance from the Sun to the nearest star, Proxima (V645 Cen), 4.2 light yrs. It takes 4.2 years for the Sun's light to reach Proxima (V645 Cen).
A LIGHT YEAR is a measure of distance. It's the distance light will travel in 1 year at the speed of 186,282 miles per second, that's 5.88 trillion miles.
BOOKS: NORTON'S 2000.0 STAR ATLAS AND REFERENCE HANDBOOK edited by Ian Ridpath, excellent general astro. reference source.
BURNHAM'S CELESTIAL HANDBOOK by Robert Burnham, Jr., 3 vol set, a wealth of information about things outside the Solar System.
Copyright (c) 1996 Rich Neuschaefer
Other solar system related web-pages
Contact Mark Wagner via E-Mail