: I just learned that mercury is in fact the closest planet to the earth. What is this madness and since when?
In: 3690
It’s closest to Earth on average over time. Mercury is the closest to the Sun, so it is never much farther away from Earth than the Sun is. Venus, on the other hand, is much further from the sun, so when it’s on the opposite side of the Sun from us, it’s much further away than Mercury is.
This is true for any planet in any solar system. The first planet is, on average, the closest to any other given planet, so it’s a bad way to measure closeness.
In terms of space travel, Venus is the easiest to get to because of how close its orbit is and its large size compared to Mars, but Mars’ orbit is just about as close to us as Venus’.
[Relevant CGP Grey](https://youtu.be/SumDHcnCRuU)
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