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There are no fixed
distances in space, as everything is moving. The figures given below are
approximate distances. For each planet, the figure given is when the earth and
planet make their nearest approach to one another. However, a rocket travelling
to a planet must follow a curved path which is much longer.
From
the EARTH to
| THE SUN |
92,900,000miles |
| THE MOON |
238,900 miles
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| MERCURY |
50,000,000 miles
|
| VENUS |
26,000,000 miles
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| MARS |
35,000,000 miles
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| JUPITER |
390,000,000 miles
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| SATURN |
793,000,000 miles
|
| URANUS |
1,689,000,000 miles
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| NEPTUNE |
2,700,000,000 miles
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PLUTO - follows an unusual path round the sun. This can bring it inside
the path of Neptune, as will happen from 1969 to 2009.
The nearest star is called Proximo Centauri, and
its light takes just over four years to reach us, travelling at about 186,000
miles a second. A light-year, the unit we use to measure distances to the
stars, is six million, million miles.
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