Earth is about eight light-minutes away from the Sun and orbits it, taking a year (about 365.25 days) to complete one revolution. Of the four rocky planets, it is the largest and most massive. It is the densest planet in the Solar System.

Differences in the amount of captured energy between geographic regions (as with the equatorial region receiving more sunlight than the polar regions) drive atmospheric and ocean currents, producing a global climate system with different climate regions, and a range of weather phenomena such as precipitation, allowing components such as nitrogen to cycle.Įarth is rounded into an ellipsoid with a circumference of about 40,000 km.

This process maintains the current average surface temperature of 14.76 ☌, at which water is liquid under atmospheric pressure. The water vapor acts as a greenhouse gas and, together with other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, particularly carbon dioxide (CO 2), creates the conditions for both liquid surface water and water vapor to persist via the capturing of energy from the Sun's light. Water vapor is widely present in the atmosphere, forming clouds that cover most of the planet. It has a composition of primarily nitrogen and oxygen. Inside the Earth's crust is a liquid outer core that generates the magnetosphere, deflecting most of the destructive solar winds and cosmic radiation.Įarth has a dynamic atmosphere, which sustains Earth's surface conditions and protects it from most meteoroids and UV-light at entry. Below the planet's surface lies the crust, consisting of several slowly moving tectonic plates, which interact to produce mountain ranges, volcanoes, and earthquakes. The other 29.2% of the Earth's surface is land, consisting of continents and islands, and is widely covered by vegetation. The polar regions currently retain most of all other water with large sheets of ice covering ocean and land, dwarfing Earth's groundwater, lakes, rivers and atmospheric water.

While Earth may not contain the largest volumes of water in the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water, extending over 70.8% of the planet with its ocean, making it an ocean world. Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only place known in the universe where life has originated and found habitability.

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