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Essentially, because Mercury is closest to the Sun, when taking an average over time, Mercury is most often the closest planet to the Earth, [120] [121] and—in that measure—it is the closest planet to each of the other planets in the Solar System. [122] [123] [124] [b]
Another likely candidate is Alpha Centauri, Earth's nearest Sun-like star system 4.37 light-years away. Estimates place the probability of finding a habitable planet around Alpha Centauri A or B at roughly 75%. [ 11 ] Alpha Centauri is the target of several exoplanet-finding missions, including Breakthrough Starshot and Mission Centaur, the ...
Proxima Centauri b is the closest exoplanet to Earth, [20] at a distance of about 4.2 ly (1.3 parsecs). [5] It orbits Proxima Centauri every 11.186 Earth days at a distance of about 0.049 AU, [1] over 20 times closer to Proxima Centauri than Earth is to the Sun. [21] As of 2021, it is unclear whether it has an eccentricity [e] [24] but Proxima Centauri b is unlikely to have any obliquity. [25]
Earth orbit (yellow) compared to a circle (gray) Earth orbits the Sun at an average distance of 149.60 million km (92.96 million mi), or 8.317 light-minutes, [1] in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from above the Northern Hemisphere. One complete orbit takes 365.256 days (1 sidereal year), during which time Earth has traveled 940 million ...
Proxima Centauri is the nearest star to Earth after the Sun, located 4.25 light-years away in the southern constellation of Centaurus. This object was discovered in 1915 by Robert Innes. It is a small, low-mass star, too faint to be seen with the naked eye, with an apparent magnitude of 11.13. Its Latin name means the 'nearest [star] of Centaurus'.
When Venus lies between Earth and the Sun in inferior conjunction, it makes the closest approach to Earth of any planet at an average distance of 41 million km (25 million mi). [4] [note 3] [167] Because of the decreasing eccentricity of Earth's orbit, the minimum distances will become greater over tens of thousands of years.
It contrasts the darker, cratered terrain of Belton Regio at lower left. Surface temp. Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most- massive known object to directly orbit the Sun.
Alpha Centauri (α Centauri, α Cen, or Alpha Cen) is a triple star system in the southern constellation of Centaurus. It consists of three stars: Rigil Kentaurus (α Centauri A), Toliman (α Centauri B), and Proxima Centauri (α Centauri C). [ 14 ] Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the Sun at 4.2465 light-years (1.3020 pc).