Back in the 70’s Ben Bova (then the editor of Analog magazine) along with Trudy Bell, produced a wonderfully illustrated book caled Close Up: New Worlds that billed itself as “astounding modern views of the solar system”.
Well, that was 1977. To date it is to note that it includes Pluto among the planets.
I used that book as a resource while designing SF strategy board games. It was a great compendium of both known fact and SF speculation.
NASA and other space agencies have taken a lot more pictures since then with Hubble, other space telescopes and a huge variety of probes either taking up orbits or doing fly-bys.
Lets just say it’s been a while since anyone has taken a grand tour the way that Ben and Trudy did back in ’77. So we’re going to reprise that book using the latest and greatest.
Earth lies at a distance from the sun of 93 million miles
It is approximately 9,917 miles in diameter
It’s year is 365 days
Earth has an axial tilt of 23 degrees, believed responsponsible for our weather
The surface temperature on Venus is 58.62 degrees (Fahrenheit)
It’s escape velocity is 25,031 miles per hour
Its surface gravity is 32 feet/second squared
Earth is considered to be a Terrestrial, or rocky, planet
This year, Earth will be visible whenever you look out the window
NASA has a wonderful planetary information resource. You can learn far more about Earth here
