The ever-insightful CGP Grey (previously) discovered via research by Tomment Section, a very interesting fact regarding which planet is closest to Earth. While many linear charts put Venus as our closest neighbor, it’s actually Mercury that is the “mostest closest” to our inhabited planet due to its small orbit. In fact, this very orbit also makes Mercury closest to all planets in our solar system.
When Mars and Venus are both on the other side of the Sun, it leaves little Mercury the closest. Each of Earth’s inner three planet friends are at one time the farthest and the closest. And Mercury, with his smallest orbit, makes him never that far from Earth. At least on planetary scales.
…Once again, Mercury’s small orbit means he never goes as far away as the other planets with their bigger orbits. Thus, are you ready for this?
The orbital math that shows Mercury is the mostest closest to Jupiter is the same for all the planets and everything that orbits the sun.
Here are some further thoughts that CGP Grey had about this discovery.
The International Astronomical Union Minor Planet Center (IAU) has officially renamed the 1991 FM3 asteroid to (17473) Freddiemercury in honor of the late, great Freddy Mercury of Queen. Bandmate and astrophysicist Dr. Brian May made a heartfelt announcement of the designation via video during a bittersweet celebration of what would…
Clare Julia and Si Bennett of Planet Custard and Egg Cup Creative, the team behind music videos for such bands as Muse, The Charlatans and Guns N' Roses, have created a "The Space Song", a wonderfully animated, educational song about the planets of the solar system. The really catchy tune…
Astronomers have discovered the exoplanet Proxima b orbiting Earth's nearest stellar neighbor, Proxima Centauri. At a distance of approximately 4.25 light years, few details are known about the newly discovered world, but astronomers believe that the planet is rocky, about 1.3 times the size of Earth, and that the planet…
To illustrate the distance between the Earth and the Moon, reddit user PerplexingPotato posted an image that placed the other seven planets in our solar system between them. According to NASA's Solar System Fact Sheets the average distance between the Earth and the Moon is 238,855 miles, and the sum diameters of Mercury, Venus,…
Pluto sent a love note back to Earth via @NASANewHorizons. This is the last image taken before today's #PlutoFlyby. pic.twitter.com/a2AE20LHcR — NASA (@NASA) July 14, 2015 NASA has released the last image taken of the dwarf planet Pluto before the historic flyby of the New Horizons mission that occurred at…
ThinkGeek is featuring a 10-piece handmade Planetary Lollipop set that includes delicious images of the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. The individually wrapped hard candy lollipops each come with their own unique flavor. If you've been around ThinkGeek for a while, you already know…
Lori Dorn
Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.
