Appendix C: Physical and Orbital Data for the Planets
Physical Data for the Major Planets
Table C1
| 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
Table C2
| 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 |
1.25 |
— |
— |
1.4 |
Orbital Data for the Major Planets
Table C3
| 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
Table C4
| 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 |
Attribution
“F | Physical and Orbital Data for the Planets” from Astronomy 2e by Andrew Fraknoi, David Morrison, Sidney C. Wolff, © OpenStax – Rice University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
