planet
Earth
The only world where water is stable as solid, liquid and vapour at the surface at once. An unusually large Moon steadies the axial tilt that gives the seasons their regularity.
Position
Computed on . For a continuously updating figure, open the live simulation.
About Earth
Earth’s orbit is very nearly circular — the difference between perihelion and aphelion is about 3% — so the seasons come from the 23.4° axial tilt, not from distance to the Sun. The northern hemisphere is in fact slightly closer to the Sun during its winter. An unusually massive Moon damps the wobble of that tilt, which is why the seasons have stayed regular over geological time.
Physical data
- Diameter
- 12,756 km
- Mass
- 1.000 earths
- Surface gravity
- 9.81 m/s2
- Rotation
- 23h 56m
- Year
- 365.26 d
- Axial tilt
- 23.4 deg
- Mean temperature
- 15 C
- Moons
- 1
Positions from VSOP87, accurate to within one arcminute. Physical constants are published values and are not computed here.