To keep our yearly calendars consistent with our orbit around the Sun, every four years we add one day. That extra quarter of a day presents a challenge to our calendar system, which counts one year as 365 days. It takes 365.25 days to complete one trip around the Sun. Credit: NASA Visualization Technology Applications and Development (VTAD)Īs Earth orbits the Sun, it completes one rotation every 23.9 hours. It takes about eight minutes for light from the Sun to reach our planet.Ī 3D model of Earth, our home planet. This unit provides an easy way to quickly compare planets' distances from the Sun. With a radius of 3,959 miles (6,371 kilometers), Earth is the biggest of the terrestrial planets and the fifth largest planet overall.įrom an average distance of 93 million miles (150 million kilometers), Earth is exactly one astronomical unit away from the Sun because one astronomical unit (abbreviated as AU), is the distance from the Sun to Earth. To find out more visit our sister website,. Some of the features of our planet that make it great for sustaining life are changing due to the ongoing effects of climate change. Earth's vast oceans provided a convenient place for life to begin about 3.8 billion years ago. Most notably, Earth is unique in that most of our planet is covered in liquid water, since the temperature allows liquid water to exist for extended periods of time. However, the name Earth is a Germanic word, which simply means “the ground.”Įarth has a very hospitable temperature and mix of chemicals that have made life abundant here. All of the planets, except for Earth, were named after Greek and Roman gods and goddesses. The name Earth is at least 1,000 years old. Just slightly larger than nearby Venus, Earth is the biggest of the four planets closest to the Sun, all of which are made of rock and metal. While Earth is only the fifth largest planet in the solar system, it is the only world in our solar system with liquid water on the surface. Our home planet is the third planet from the Sun, and the only place we know of so far that’s inhabited by living things.
0 kommentar(er)
