| Characteristics of the inner planets. |
| |
MERCURY |
VENUS |
EARTH |
MARS |
| Reciprocal massa |
6,023,600 |
408,524 |
328,900 |
3,098,710 |
| Massb (Earth=1) |
0.0553 |
0.8149 |
1.0000 |
0.1074 |
| Massb (g) |
3.303×1026 |
4.870×1027 |
5.976×1027 |
6.418×1026 |
| Equatorial radius (Earth=1) |
0.382 |
0.949 |
1.000 |
0.532 |
| Equatorial radius (km) |
2,439 |
6,051 |
6,378 |
3,393 |
| Ellipticityc |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0034 |
0.0052 |
| Mean density (g/cm3) |
5.43 |
5.25 |
5.52 |
3.95 |
| Equatorial surface gravity (m/s2) |
3.78 |
8.60 |
9.78 |
3.72 |
| Equatorial escape velocity (km/s) |
4.3 |
10.4 |
11.2 |
5.0 |
| Sidereal rotation period |
58.65 days |
243.01 days |
23.9345 hours |
24.6229 hours |
| Inclination of equator to orbit |
(2°)d |
177°.3e |
23°.45 |
25°.19 |
| Characteristics of the outer planets. |
| |
JUPITER |
SATURN |
URANUS |
NEPTUNE |
PLUTO |
| Reciprocal massa |
1,047.355 |
3,498.5 |
22,869 |
19,314 |
135,300,000 |
| Massb (Earth=1) |
317.938 |
95.181 |
14.531 |
17.135 |
0.0022 |
| Massb (g) |
1.900×1030 |
5.688×1029 |
8.684×1028 |
1.024×1029 |
1.31×1025 |
| Equatorial radiusf (Earth=1) |
11.209 |
9.449 |
4.007 |
3.883 |
0.180 |
| Equatorial radius(km)f |
71,541 |
60,268 |
25,559 |
24,764 |
1,150 |
| Ellipticityc |
0.0649 |
0.0980 |
0.0229 |
0.017 |
0.0 |
| Mean density (g/cm3) |
1.33 |
0.69 |
1.29 |
1.64 |
2.13 |
| Equatorial surface gravity (m/s2) |
22.88 |
9.05 |
7.77 |
11.0 |
0.4 |
| Equatorial escape velocity (km/s) |
59.6 |
35.5 |
21.3 |
23.3 |
1.1 |
| Sidereal rotation period |
9.841 hoursg |
10.233 hoursh |
17.9 hoursi |
19.2 hoursj |
6.3872 days |
| Inclination of equator to orbit |
3°.12 |
26°.73 |
97°.86e |
29°.6 |
122°.46e |
aThe mass of the Sun divided by the mass of the planet (including
its atmosphere and satellites).
bSatellite masses not included.
cThe ellipticity is (Re-Rp)/Re, where Re and Rp are the planet's
equatorial and polar radii, respectively.
dValues in parentheses are uncertain by more 10 per cent.
eBy IAU convention, each planet's north pole is the one lying north
of the ecliptic plane; as such, Venus, Uranus, and Pluto are considered
to have retrograde rotation.
fSince the outer planets have no solid surfaces, these are the
radii at 1-bar pressure level in their atmospheres.
gJupiter's internal (System III) rotation period is 9.925 hours.
hSaturn's internal rotation period is 10.657 hours.
iUranus's internal rotation period is 17.240 hours.
jNeptune's internal rotation period is 16.11 hours.
| Characteristics of planetary orbits |
| |
| Mean distance from Sun |
| (AU) |
(106 km) |
|
| Siderial period |
| (years) |
(days) |
|
Synodic period (days) |
Mean orbital velo-city (km/s) |
Orbital eccen-tricity |
Incli-
nation to ecliptic (degrees) |
| MERCURY |
0.3871 |
57.91 |
0.24085 |
87.969 |
115.88 |
47.89 |
0.2056 |
7.004 |
| VENUS |
0.7233 |
108.20 |
0.61521 |
224.701 |
583.92 |
35.03 |
0.0068 |
3.394 |
| EARTH |
1.0000 |
149.60 |
1.00004 |
365.256 |
- |
29.79 |
0.0167 |
0.000 |
| MARS |
1.5237 |
227.94 |
1.88089 |
686.980 |
779.94 |
24.13 |
0.0934 |
1.850 |
| JUPITER |
5.2028 |
778.33 |
11.8623 |
4,332.71 |
398.88 |
13.06 |
0.0483 |
1.308 |
| SATURN |
9.5388 |
1,426.98 |
29.458 |
10,759.5 |
378.09 |
9.64 |
0.0560 |
2.488 |
| URANUS |
19.1914 |
2,870.99 |
84.01 |
30,685 |
369.66 |
6.81 |
0.0461 |
0.774 |
| NEPTUNE |
30.0611 |
4,497.07 |
164.79 |
60,190 |
367.49 |
5.43 |
0.0097 |
1.774 |
| PLUTO |
39.5294 |
5,913.52 |
248.54 |
90,800 |
366.73 |
4.74 |
0.2482 |
17.148 |
The data in this tables 5, 6 and 7 were taken with permission from The New Solar System (3rd edition), edited by J. Kelly Beatty and Andrew Chaikin,
Cambridge University Press and Sky Publishing Corp., 1990 © Sky Publishing Corp., and revised in 1997 with data from the National Space Science Data Center.
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