{"id":45433,"date":"2023-06-01T07:33:34","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T07:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=118555"},"modified":"2023-06-01T08:32:33","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T08:32:33","slug":"whats-the-farthest-planet-from-earth","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/whats-the-farthest-planet-from-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the farthest planet from Earth?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following Pluto’s reclassification in 2006, Neptune is the farthest planet from Earth in our Solar System. <\/p>

By Penny Wozniakiewicz\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 01 June 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

Our Solar System consists of 8 planets, including our very own Earth.<\/p>\n

The furthest planet from Earth is the ice giant Neptune<\/a> which, at closest approach (when Earth and Neptune are aligned on the same side of the Sun), is a whopping 4.3 billion kilometres away.<\/p>\n

But what about Pluto? Isn\u2019t Pluto the farthest planet from Earth?<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
The most accurate natural colour image of Pluto taken by NASA\u2019s New Horizons spacecraft in 2015. Credit: NASA\/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory\/Southwest Research Institute\/Alex Parker<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Some of you may remember a time not that long ago when descriptions of our Solar System referred to 9 planets, with tiny Pluto being the furthest.<\/p>\n

This is the case at least for much of the time, since Pluto\u2019s orbit crosses with that of Neptune and for 20 years out of Pluto\u2019s 248-year orbit, Neptune actually resides further out even than Pluto!<\/p>\n

However, in 2006 Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
IAU members cast their votes at the 2006 General Assembly. Credit: Credit: IAU\/Robert Hurt (SSC)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Nothing had changed about Pluto, merely our definition of a planet had been rewritten and now Pluto only satisfied two out of three criteria required: it is spherical in shape and is in orbit around the Sun.<\/p>\n

However, it did not meet the third criteria which required that it must have \u2018cleared its neighbourhood\u2019.<\/p>\n

Since a multitude of Kuiper Belt<\/a> Objects similar in size to, and in the vicinity of, Pluto have been discovered, the definition of a planet could no longer apply.<\/p>\n

So, in our Solar System, Neptune is the furthest planet from the Earth, but exoplanets<\/a> \u2013 planets beyond our solar system \u2013 are now also known to exist.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
A view of Neptune, its rings and moons captured by the James Webb Space Telescope, 12 July 2022. Credit: Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, processed by Joseph DePasquale (STScI)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

With the first confirmed detection in the mid 1990s, thousands of exoplanets have been identified, with the furthest examples found in the central bulge of our Galaxy \u2013 around 27,000 light years away!<\/p>\n

Data from ever more sophisticated telescopes suggests exoplanets are common and thus likely present at even further distances \u2013 perhaps beyond our Galaxy and to the very edge of our Universe<\/a>.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following Pluto’s reclassification in 2006, Neptune is the farthest planet from Earth in our Solar System. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":45434,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/06\/whats-the-farthest-planet-from-earth.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/06\/whats-the-farthest-planet-from-earth-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/06\/whats-the-farthest-planet-from-earth-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/06\/whats-the-farthest-planet-from-earth-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/06\/whats-the-farthest-planet-from-earth-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/06\/whats-the-farthest-planet-from-earth.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/06\/whats-the-farthest-planet-from-earth.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Following Pluto's reclassification in 2006, Neptune is the farthest planet from Earth in our Solar System.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/45433"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}