Earth is the largest of the four terrestrial planets. The third planet from the Sun, we have the good fortune to be on a planet that is large enough to hold onto its hydrogen and far enough to have liquid water. Of course the characteristics of the earth are determined to very high accuracy. The biggest error in the values given below is for Earth's mass, and arises from the relatively large error in the value of gravitational constant. In this table, the observed values are taken from Yoder (1995).[1] Go to table.
3.98600440×1020 cm3 s−2 |
|
5.972×1027 g |
|
6.3710(1±2)×108 cm |
|
6.378137×108 cm |
|
1/298.257222 |
|
982.022 cm s-2 |
|
1.11861×106 cm s−1 |
|
5.513 g cm−3 |
|
23h 56m 04.09054s |
|
86164.09054 s |
|
23° 26′ 21.4119″ |
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365.242190 d |
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1.00000011 AU |
|
0.01671022 |
|
1.3676 × 106 ergs cm−2 s−1 |
[1] Yoder, Charles F. “Astrometric and Geodetic Properties of Earth and the Solar System.” In Global Earth Physics: A Handbook of Physical Constants edited by T.J. Ahrens, 1–31. AGU Reference Shelf, No. 1. Washington: American Geophysical Union, 1995.