: I just learned that mercury is in fact the closest planet to the earth. What is this madness and since when?

Question

: I just learned that mercury is in fact the closest planet to the earth. What is this madness and since when?

In: 3690

Answer 1

The thing is that all of the planets are constantly orbiting the sun at different speeds, so at any given time the closest planet in terms of absolute distance to the Earth could either be Mars, Venus, or Mercury, depending on where all the planets are in their orbits. On average, Mercury is the closest of the three about half the time.

[Here’s a youtube video of a simulation showing it.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDgbVIqGADQ)