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terrestrial planet comparison table
Subject has rotation period has oblateness has effective temperature has advance of perihelion has atmospheric pressure has discoverer has discovery date has magnetic field inclination has temperature of cloud top has maximum elongation has precession has surface gravity 360 cm s-2< sup> has equatorial radiu has subsolar point temperature has atmosphere composition has rotational period has mean density has mean distance from Sun 0.387 AU has magnetic field strength has atmosphere pressure has orbital velocity has magnetic field offset has aphelion distance has radius (1974) 3394 km has mean orbital velocity has core temperature has age has orbital period has escape velocity has obliquity has distance from Sun has surface temperature has sidereal period has definition has magnetic field at surface has temperature has inclination to the ecliptic has eccentricity has surface spectrum has core density has core composition has surface gravity has mass has cloud altitude is an instance of has ecliptic inclination has radiu has perhelion date has been observ has mass 6.45 × 1026< sup> g (0.11 MEarth) has magnetic field in core has number of satellite has albedo has apparent magnitude has inclination has motion relative to star has relativistic advance of perihelion has polar radiu has synodic period has perihelion distance has mean distance from sun has mean distance from Sun has atmosphere density
Earth23 hours 56 minutes 4.1 seconds 287 K 1.013 × 106 dyn cm-2 (at sea level)     50'.256 per year 6378.17 km 78% N2; 20.9% O2; 0.9% Ar, 0.03% C02 (by volume) 5.517 g cm-3   vorb = 29.78 km s-1 152100000 km  6400 K4.6 ± 0.1 × 109 years365.2564 daysVesc = 11.19 km s-123°26'34" (in 1973)   Third planet from the Sun. First forms of life appeared about 3.2 to 3.5 × 109 years ago (Homo sapiens appeared as a species about 105 years ago).0.5 gauss  e = 0.0167 10 g cm-3 980 cm s-25.977 × 1027 g naked eye planeti = 0  for many centuries 100 gauss 0.39 (water and land about 0.2; snow and clouds about 0.8)brighter than 5 epicycloidal4'.6 per century6356.9 km 147100000 km in early January 149598500 km1.3 × 10-3 g cm-3 (at sea level)
Mars 0.0092  3.5 millibars (data from mariner 7)         more than 90% CO2, traces of O2, CO, H2O.24h37m22s.64.0 g cm-3      -has source: Hopkins, J. 1976 Glossary of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago Press24.2 km s-1   5.1 km s-123°59' 248 K687 daysFourth major planet out from the Sun. Its tiny satellites are locked in synchronous rotation with mars.   e = 0.0934  liquid Ni - Fe0.38 that of Earthgreater than Pluto's mass and less massive than ten times Jupiter's mass superior planet   for many centuries  20.16brighter than 5i = 1°.85epicycloidal  779.9 days 1.5237 AU  
Mercury58.646 days exactly 2/3 of its orbital period< 0.001 476" per century   < 10° to the pole 28° -has source: Hopkins, J. 1976 Glossary of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago Press2446 km700 K (data from Mariner 10)He and Ar 5.44 g cm-3-has source: Hopkins, J. 1976 Glossary of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago Press200-300 gammas (data from Mariner 10)< 2 × 10-9 millibars (data from Mariner 10)Vorb 47.9 km s-10.47 RM from the core     88 daysVesc 4.2 km s-1    Innermost planet of the Solar System. Transits of the Sun occur either 7 or 13 years apart - last transit 1973 November 10.   e = 0.206similar to lunar maria and uplands , probably lunar-like soil of low-density silicates iron rich 3.15 × 1026 g (0.054 MEarth) (data from Mariner 10) terrestrial planet       0.06 i = 7°.0 42".6 per century 116 days    
Pluto6d9h17m49s    Clyde Tombaugh1930             Vorb 4.7 km s-1      248.43 years  39.44 AU  The most distant known planet from the Sun. Its orbit has the highest eccentricity and highest inclination to the ecliptic of any planet and some astronomers suggest that it may be an escaped satellite of Neptune. In the mid-1970s Pluto crosses Neptune's orbit on its way in, and for the rest of this century Pluto will be closer to the Sun than Neptune (Pluto and Neptune, however, are never less than 2.6 AU apart). Its mass and radius have not been determined with any great certainty. 50-60 K17°.170.249    6 × 1026 g, 0.1 to 0.2 MEarth superior planet < 2900 km1989    < 0.25     366.7 days    
Venus243.09 ± 0.5 days   92-95 atm   250 K48°    90-95% CO2, remainder primarily N2, traces of water vapor, oxygen, HF, HC1 (by volume) 5.16 g cm-3   35 km s-1      224.7 daysVesc = 10.3 km s-13° R 743 ± 8 K (from Venera 8) Second planet from the Sun. Has retrograde rotation. Mariner 10 has established that the cloud tops rotate every 4 hours retrograde. Radar experiments have established that the surface is somewhat smoother than the Moon, but there are mountains and there is extensive cratering. Last transit of Sun was in 1882; next one will be 2004. Venus's rotation period is in synchronism with Earth - that is, at inferior conjunction the same side is always toward the Earth.   e = 0.0068   8 m s24.872 × 1027 g44 kmnaked eye planet 6056 km for many centuries   0.76brighter than 5i = 3°.39epicycloidal  583.9 days  0.7233 AU 

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