Appendix F: Physical and Orbital Data for the Planets
| Physical Data for the Major Planets | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Major Planet | Mean Diameter (km) | Mean Diameter (Earth = 1) | Mass (Earth = 1) | Mean Density (g/cm3) | Rotation Period (d) | Inclination of Equator to Orbit (°) | Surface Gravity (Earth = 1[g]) | Velocity of Escape (km/s) |
| Mercury | 4879 | 0.38 | 0.055 | 5.43 | 58. | 0.0 | 0.38 | 4.3 |
| Venus | 12,104 | 0.95 | 0.815 | 5.24 | −243. | 177 | 0.90 | 10.4 |
| Earth | 12,756 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 5.51 | 1.000 | 23.4 | 1.00 | 11.2 |
| Mars | 6779 | 0.53 | 0.11 | 3.93 | 1.026 | 25.2 | 0.38 | 5.0 |
| Jupiter | 140,000 | 10.9 | 318 | 1.33 | 0.414 | 3.1 | 2.53 | 60. |
| Saturn | 117,000 | 9.13 | 95.2 | 0.69 | 0.440 | 26.7 | 1.07 | 36. |
| Uranus | 50,700 | 3.98 | 14.5 | 1.27 | −0.718 | 97.9 | 0.89 | 21. |
| Neptune | 49,200 | 3.86 | 17.2 | 1.64 | 0.671 | 29.6 | 1.14 | 23. |
| Physical Data for Well-Studied Dwarf Planets | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Well-Studied Dwarf Planet | Diameter (km) | Diameter (Earth = 1) | Mass (Earth = 1) | Mean Density (g/cm3) | Rotation Period (d) | Inclination of Equator to Orbit (°) | Surface Gravity (Earth = 1[g]) | Velocity of Escape (km/s) |
| Ceres | 950 | 0.07 | 0.0002 | 2.2 | 0.378 | 3 | 0.03 | 0.5 |
| Pluto | 2470 | 0.18 | 0.0024 | 1.9 | −6.387 | 122 | 0.06 | 1.3 |
| Haumea | 1700 | 0.13 | 0.0007 | 3 | 0.163 | — | — | 0.8 |
| Makemake | 1400 | 0.11 | 0.0005 | 2 | 0.321 | — | — | 0.8 |
| Eris | 2326 | 0.18 | 0.0028 | 2.5 | 1.251 | — | — | 1.4 |
| Orbital Data for the Major Planets | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Major Planet | Semimajor Axis (AU) | Semimajor Axis (106 km) | Sidereal Period (y) | Sidereal Period (d) | Mean Orbital Speed (km/s) | Orbital Eccentricity | Inclination of Orbit to Ecliptic (°) |
| Mercury | 0.39 | 58 | 0.24 | 88.0 | 47.9 | 0.206 | 7.0 |
| Venus | 0.72 | 108 | 0.6 | 224.7 | 35.0 | 0.007 | 3.4 |
| Earth | 1.00 | 149 | 1.00 | 365.2 | 29.8 | 0.017 | 0.0 |
| Mars | 1.52 | 228 | 1.88 | 687.0 | 24.1 | 0.093 | 1.9 |
| Jupiter | 5.20 | 778 | 11.86 | — | 13.1 | 0.048 | 1.3 |
| Saturn | 9.54 | 1427 | 29.46 | — | 9.6 | 0.056 | 2.5 |
| Uranus | 19.19 | 2871 | 84.01 | — | 6.8 | 0.046 | 0.8 |
| Neptune | 30.06 | 4497 | 164.82 | — | 5.4 | 0.010 | 1.8 |
| Orbital Data for Well-Studied Dwarf Planets | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Well-Studied Dwarf Planet | Semimajor Axis (AU) | Semimajor Axis (106 km) | Sidereal Period (y) | Mean Orbital Speed
(km/s)
|
Orbital Eccentricity | Inclination of Orbit to Ecliptic (°) |
| Ceres | 2.77 | 414.0 | 4.6 | 18 | 0.08 | 11 |
| Pluto | 39.5 | 5915 | 248.6 | 4.7 | 0.25 | 17 |
| Haumea | 43.1 | 6452 | 283.3 | 4.5 | 0.19 | 28 |
| Makemake | 45.8 | 6850 | 309.9 | 4.4 | 0.16 | 29 |
| Eris | 68.0 | 10,120 | 560.9 | 3.4 | 0.44 | 44 |
Footnotes
- 1 This measurement is quite uncertain.
