Earth

Home, for now

Vital statistics

• Mean radius: 6,371 kilometres
• Mass: 5.97 × 10²⁴ kilograms
• Surface gravity: 9.81 metres per second squared
• Sidereal rotation: 23.9 hrs
• Orbital period: 365 days
• Mean temperature: +15 °C
• Known moons: 1
• Axial tilt: 23.44 degrees

Field notes

• All of Earth's water, gathered into one sphere, would be just ~1,385 km across — far smaller than the Moon. The oceans are a thin film on a rocky ball.
• Lightning strikes about 44 times every second — nearly 4 million times a day, every day.
• Days are getting longer: the Moon's pull slows Earth's spin by ~1.8 milliseconds per century. When dinosaurs lived, a day was about 23 hours.
• Earth is the densest planet in the solar system — and the only one not named after a god.

Data: NASA Planetary Fact Sheets. Explore the full interactive 3D map at the home page — every orbit is computed from real Keplerian elements.