: I just learned that mercury is in fact the closest planet to the earth. What is this madness and since when?
In: 3690
You probably think Venus or Mars are closer.
Well yes, their *orbits* are closer to the Earths orbit than Mercury’s but the planets themselves travel quite slowly round those orbits and spend a lot of their time on the other side of the Sun to the Earth. So, during this time they really are quite a long way away.
Mercury, meanwhile travels quickly round the Sun and so is on the same side as us a lot of the time. Even when it is on the opposite side of the Sun, it will still be positioned nearer to us than either of the other planets when they are on the other side
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