Submitted by: Submitted by cocomaster
Views: 10
Words: 18282
Pages: 74
Category: World History
Date Submitted: 03/13/2016 10:44 AM
This is a featured article. Click here for more information. Page semi-protected Listen to this article
Earth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the planet. For other uses, see Earth (disambiguation).
Earth Astronomical symbol of Earth
"The Blue Marble" photograph of Earth, taken by the Apollo 17 lunar mission. The Arabian peninsula, Africa and Madagascar lie in the upper half of the disc, whereas Antarctica is at the bottom.
"The Blue Marble" photograph of Earth, taken during the Apollo 17 lunar mission in 1972
Orbital characteristics
Epoch J2000[n 1]
Aphelion
152,100,000 km (94,500,000 mi)
(1.01673 AU) [n 2]
Perihelion
147,095,000 km (91,401,000 mi)
(0.9832687 AU) [n 2]
Semi-major axis
149,598,023 km (92,955,902 mi)
(1.000001018 AU) [1]
Eccentricity 0.0167086[1]
Orbital period
365.256363004 d [2]
(1.00001742096 yr)
Average orbital speed
29.78 km/s (18.50 mi/s)[3]
(107,200 km/h (66,600 mph))
Mean anomaly
358.617°
Inclination
7.155° to the Sun's equator;
1.57869°[4] to invariable plane;
0.00005° to J2000 ecliptic
Longitude of ascending node
−11.26064°[3] to J2000 ecliptic
Argument of perihelion
114.20783°[3]
Satellites
One natural satellite;
1305 operational artificial satellites[5][n 3]
Physical characteristics
Mean radius
6,371.0 km (3,958.8 mi)[6]
Equatorial radius
6,378.1 km (3,963.2 mi)[7][8]
Polar radius
6,356.8 km (3,949.9 mi)[9]
Flattening 0.0033528[10]
1/298.257222101 (ETRS89)
Circumference
40,075.017 km (24,901.461 mi) (equatorial) [8]
40,007.86 km (24,859.73 mi) (meridional) [11][12]
Surface area
510,072,000 km2 (196,940,000 sq mi)[13][14][n 4]
(148,940,000 km2 (57,510,000 sq mi) (29.2%) land
361,132,000 km2 (139,434,000 sq mi) (70.8%) water)
Volume 1.08321×1012 km3 (2.59876×1011 cu mi)[3]
Mass 5.97237×1024 kg (1.31668×1025 lb)[15]
(3.0×10−6 M☉)
Mean density
5.514 g/cm3 (0.1992 lb/cu in)[3]
Surface gravity
9.807 m/s2 (32.18 ft/s2)[16]
(1 g)
Moment of inertia...