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When you ’re standing on Earth ’s surface , it ’s easy to block that our planet ishurtling around the sun at more than 67,000 miles per hour ( 107,800 km / h ) . And it ’s even easier to forget that there are seven other satellite also make their style around our abode sensation at alike breakneck velocity , or that all eight have been ceaselessly circling thesolar systemfor billions of years .
But what might really blow your brain is detect out how many trips around the sun each planet has under its belt . This may seem like a slippery affair to count , but because the planets ' orbits have remain largely unaltered for most of their existence , all it takes is a bit of basic math .
The orbital period of the solar system’s planets varies widely.
Related : What ’s the maximum number of planets that could orbit the sun ?
Thesolar systemwas born around 4.6 billion years ago , when the sun begin to constitute from a cloud of rubble impart behind by prior stellar explosions . Around 4.59 billion years ago , the giant planet — Jupiter , Saturn , UranusandNeptune — were assume . And around 4.5 billion year ago , the smaller , rocky satellite — Mercury , Venus , Earth andMars — occupy shape , consort toThe Planetary Society .
But when the planets were born , their eye socket around the sunlight were not the same as they are today ( especially those of the giant planets ) . For around 100 million old age after the first planets formed , there was a " dynamical instability " among them , which result in a gravitational tug - of - state of war between these tumid bodies and caused the rest of the outer solar arrangement ’s planetary material , and even some emerging protoplanets , to be catapult out of the solar system , Sean Raymond , an astronomer at the Bordeaux Astrophysics Laboratory in France and an expert on planetary organisation , told Live Science in an email .
The orbital period of the solar system’s planets varies widely.
However , once all of the planet had emerged and finished jostle with one another for their position , theysettled into consistent , unchanging orbitsthat have n’t change much since .
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Earth has made roughly 4.5 billion trips around the sun since it was created.
— What if Earth shared its orbit with another planet ?
" For 98 % to 99 % of the solar organization ’s lifespan , the planets ' scope have been gracious and static , " Raymond said . As a result , you’re able to use the planets ' current orbital kinetics to make a pretty exact guess at how many trips they have made around the Sunday , he added .
Take Earth , for example . Our major planet takes a yr to revolve the sun and has existed for 4.5 billion long time , so it has taken roughly 4.5 billion slip around the solar system of rules .
However , the bit of total orbits deviate greatly among the other planets because their years are either shorter or longer than Earth ’s .
Mercury , the nigh planet to the sun , accept only 88 twenty-four hour period ( or roughly 0.24 year , free-base on a yr with 365.25 days ) to travel around the sunlight once . So , over the past 4.5 billion age , it has discharge around 18.7 billion solar orbits . But Neptune , the farthest major planet from the sun , assume around 60,190 days ( or 164.7 eld ) to discharge an area , which intend it has managed only about 27.9 million trips around the sun during its 4.59 billion year of macrocosm . That mean Mercury has orbited the sun around 18.7 billion metre more than Neptune has .
Here is the full list of the planets , theiryear lengthand their full act of trips around the sun :
These sound like telling numbers ( and they are ) but most of the planets could potentially replicate their routine of orbits in their remaining lifetimes .
In around 4.5 billion years , the sunlight will haveswollen outwards to attain Earth ’s orbitand transition into a red dwarf star , which will destroy Mercury , Venus and Earth . The other planet may live on for a time if they are not burn up but their orbits will belike be majorly altered .
