52 AU), Mars highly eccentric orbit (0

closest planet to Earth Archives

A common question when looking at the Solar System and Earth place buy canada goose jacket in the grand scheme of it is planet is closest to Earth? Aside from satisfying a person general curiosity, this question is also of great importance when it comes to space exploration. And as humanity contemplates mounting manned missions to neighboring planets, it also becomes one of immense practicality.

If, someday, we hope to explore, settle, and colonize other worlds, which would make for the shortest trip? Invariable, the answer is Venus. It is a terrestrial planet, it orbits within the Sun habitable zone, and it has an atmosphere that is believed Canada Goose online to have once been like Earth Combined with its proximity to us, its little wonder we consider it our twin.

Canada Goose online Venus orbits the Sun at an buy canada goose jacket cheap average distance (semi major axis) of 108,208,000 km (0.723 AUs), ranging between 107,477,000 km (0.718 AU) at perihelion and 108,939,000 km (0.728 AU) at aphelion. This makes Venus orbit the least eccentric of all the uk canada goose outlet planets in the Solar System. In fact, with an eccentricity of less than 0.01, its orbit is almost circular. Canada Goose online

buy canada goose jacket Earth and Venus orbit compared. Credit: Sky and Telescope buy canada goose jacket

canada goose coats When Venus canada goose black friday sale lies canada goose coats on sale between Earth and the Sun, it experiences what is known as an inferior conjunction. It is at this Canada Goose Jackets point that it makes its closest approach to Earth (and that of any planet) with an average distance of 41 million km (25,476,219 mi). On average, canadian goose jacket Venus achieves an inferior conjunction with Earth every 584 days. canada goose coats

Canada Goose Jackets And because of the decreasing eccentricity of Earth orbit, the minimum distances will become greater over the next canada goose coats tens of thousands of years. So not only is it Earth closest neighbor (when it makes its closest approach), but it will continue to get cozier with us as time goes on! Canada Goose Jackets

Venus vs. Mars:

As Earth other neighbor, Mars also has a relationship with Earth. Orbiting our Sun at an average distance of 227,939,200 km (1.52 AU), Mars highly eccentric orbit (0.0934) takes it from uk canada goose a distance of 206,700,000 km (1.38 AU) at perihelion to 249,200,000 km (1.666 AU) at aphelion. This makes its orbit one of the more eccentric in our Solar System, second only to Mercury

buy canada goose jacket cheap For Earth and Mars to be at their closest, both planets needs to be on the same side of the Sun, Mars needs to be at its closest distance from the Sun (perihelion), and Earth needs to be at its farthest (aphelion). This is known as opposition, a time when Mars appears as one of the brightest objects cheap canada goose uk in canada goose uk outlet the sky (as a red star), rivaling that of Venus or Jupiter. buy canada goose jacket cheap

canada goose deals The eccentricity in Mars orbit means that it is. Credit: NASA canada goose deals

canada goose But even at this point, the distance between Mars and Earth ranges considerably. The closest approach to take place occurred back in 2003, when Earth and Mars were only 56 million km (3,4796,787 mi) apart. And this was the closest Canada Goose Outlet they’d been in 50,000 years. The next closest approach will take place on July 27th, 20178, when Earth and Mars will be at a distance of 57.6 million km (35.8 mi) from each other. canada goose

canada goose coats on sale It has also been estimated that the closest theoretical approach would take place at a distance of 54.6 million km (33.9 million mi). However, no such approach has been documented in all of recorded history. One would be forced to wonder then why so much of humanity exploration efforts (past, present and future) are aimed at Mars. Its surface has been imaged only in recent history, thanks to the development of radar imaging. However, many robotic spacecraft and even a few landers have made the journey and discovered much about Earth closest neighbor. canada goose coats on sale

Canada Goose Outlet The first attempts were made by the Soviets in the 1960s through the Venera Program. Whereas the first mission (Venera 1) failed due to loss of contact, the second (Venera 3) became the first man made object to enter the atmosphere and strike the surface of another planet (on March 1st, 1966). This was followed by the Venera 4 spacecraft, which launched on June 12th, 1967, and reached the planet roughly four months later (on October 18th). Canada Goose Outlet

Canada Goose sale The first color pictures taken of the surface of Venus by the Venera 13 space probe. Credit: NASA Canada Goose sale

NASA conducted similar missions canada goose uk shop under the Mariner program. The Mariner 2 mission, which launched on December 14th, 1962, became the first successful interplanetary mission and passed within 34,833km (21,644mi) of Venus’ surface. Between the late 60s and mid 70s, NASA conducted several more flybys using Mariner probes such as the Mariner 5 mission on Oct. 19th, 1967 and the Mariner 10 mission on Feb. 5th, 1974.

Canada Goose Parka The Soviets launched six Canada Goose Coats On Sale more Venera probes between the late 60s and 1975, and four additional missions between the late 70s and early 80s. Venera 5, Venera 6, and Venera 7 all entered Venus atmosphere and returned critical data to Earth. Venera 11 and Venera 12 detected Venusian electrical storms; and and landed on the planet and took the first color photographs of the surface. The program came to a close in October 1983, when Venera 15 and Venera 16 were placed in orbit to conduct mapping of the Venusian terrain with synthetic aperture radar. Canada Goose Parka

cheap Canada Goose By the late seventies, http://www.mycanadagoosejacket.org NASA commenced the Pioneer Venus Project, which consisted of two separate missions. The cheap Canada Goose first was the Pioneer Venus Orbiter, which inserted into an elliptical orbit around Venus (Dec. 4th, 1978) to study its atmosphere and map the surface. The second, the Pioneer Venus Multiprobe, released four probes which entered the atmosphere on Dec. 9th, 1978, returning data on its composition, winds and heat fluxes. cheap Canada Goose

canada goose clearance Artist impression of NASA Pioneer Venus Orbiter in orbit around Venus. Credit: NASA canada goose clearance

canadian goose jacket In 1985, the Soviets participated in a collaborative venture with several European states to launch the Vega Program. This two spacecraft initiative was intended to take advantage of the appearance of Halley’s Comet in the inner Solar System, and combine a mission to it with a flyby of Venus. While en route to Halley on June 11th and 15th, the two Vega spacecraft dropped Venera Canada Goose sale style probes into Venus atmosphere to map its weather. canadian goose jacket

NASA’s Magellan spacecraft was launched canada goose store on canada goose outlet May 4th, 1989, with a mission to map the surface of Venus with radar. In the course of its four and a half year mission, Magellan provided the most high resolution images to date of the planet, was canada goose clearance able to map 98% of the surface and 95% of its gravity field. In 1994, at the end of its mission, Magellan was sent to its destruction into the atmosphere of Venus to quantify its density.

canada goose store Venus was observed by the Galileo and Cassini spacecraft during flybys on their respective missions to the outer planets, but Magellan was the last dedicated mission to Venus for over a decade. It was not until October of 2006 and June of 2007 that the MESSENGER probe would conduct a flyby of Venus (and collect data) in canada goose order to slow its trajectory for an eventual orbital insertion of Mercury. canada goose store

The Venus Express, a probe designed and built by the European Space Agency, successfully assumed polar orbit around Venus on April 11th, 2006. This probe conducted a detailed study of the Venusian atmosphere and clouds, and discovered an ozone layer and a swirling double vortex at the south pole before concluding its mission in December of 2014. Since December 7th, 2015, Japan Akatsuki Canada Goose Online has been in a highly elliptical Venusian orbit.

Because of its hostile surface and atmospheric conditions, Venus has proven to be a tough nut to crack, despite its proximity to Earth. In spite of that, NASA, Roscosmos, and India ISRO all have plans for sending additional missions to Venus in canada goose clearance sale the coming years to learn more about our twin planet. And as the century progresses, and if certain people get their way, we may even attempt to send human colonists there!

canada goose clearance sale We have written many articles about Earth and its closest neighbor here at Universe Today. Here The Planet Venus, Venus: 50 Years Since Our First Trip, And We Going Back, canada goose factory sale Interesting Facts About Venus, Exploring Venus By Airship, Colonizing Venus With Floating Cities, and How Do We Terraform Venus canada goose clearance sale.