Earth

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This article is about the planet. For other uses, see Earth (disambiguation).

Earth

"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]

Mean anomaly

358.617 deg

(107,200 km/h (66,600 mph))

Inclination

7.155 deg to Sun's equator;

1.57869 deg[4] to invariable

plane;

0.00005 deg to J2000 ecliptic

Longitude of
ascending node

11.26064 deg[3] to J2000 ecliptic

Argument of
perihelion

114.20783 deg[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

1.083211012 km3 (2.598761011 cu mi)

[3]

Mass

5.972371024 kg (1.316681025 lb)[15]

(3.0106 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 0.3307[17]

factor
Escape velocity

11.186 km/s (6.951 mi/s)[3]

Sidereal rotation
period

0.99726968 d[18]

Equatorial
rotation velocity

1,674.4 km/h (1,040.4 mph)[19]

Axial tilt

23.4392811[2]

(23h 56m 4.100s)

Albedo

Surface temp.
Kelvin
Celsius
Fahrenheit

0.367 geometric[3]

0.306 Bond[3]

min
184 K[20]
89.2 C
128.5 F

mean
288 K[21]
15 C
59 F

Atmosphere
Surface pressure

101.325 kPa (at MSL)

max
330 K[22]
56.7 C
134 F

Composition by
volume

78.08% nitrogen (N2)[3] (dry air)

20.95% oxygen (O2)

0.930% argon

0.039% carbon dioxide[23]

~ 1% water vapor (climatevariable)

Earth (also the world[n 5], in Greek: Gaia,[n 6] or in Latin: Terra[26]) is the third planet
from the Sun, the densest planet in the Solar System, the largest of the Solar System's four
terrestrial planets, and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. The earliest life on
Earth arose at least 3.5 billion years ago.[27][28][29] Earlier physical evidences of life include
graphite, a biogenic substance, in 3.7 billion-year-old metasedimentary rocks discovered in
southwestern Greenland,[30] as well as, "remains of biotic life" found in 4.1 billion-year-old
rocks in Western Australia.[31][32] Earth's biodiversity has expanded continually except when
interrupted by mass extinctions.[33] Although scholars estimate that over 99 percent of all
species of life (over five billion)[34] that ever lived on Earth are extinct,[35][36] there are still an
estimated 1014 million extant species,[37][38] of which about