What is the nearest planet?

Question

For the record, Venus is closer than Mars.

Answer 1

Depends. On average, Venus is closer to Earth (closest is 40 million kilometres), But if Venus is at the opposite side of the Sun, and Mars on the same side as Earth, Mars will be closer.

As far as absolute minimal distance is concerned, it is Venus.

Answer 2

mars and venus to us.  to the sun mercury.

Answer 3

that is inhabited?  definitely Pluto. oh wait, its not a planet.

Answer 4

Earth, were on it.

Answer 5

You've already given your answer - which is weird...But you didn;t say the nearest to what.

Anyway - I'm sure you already know this but:

At opposition (closest mars ever gets it'll be 0.5 AU away.

At Venus's closest approach it will be only 0.3AU away. But when those planets are on the opposite side of the sun to us MArs is 2.5AU away and Venus is 1.7 AU away.

And at closest approach Mercury is ~0.7AU away.

So depending on where all the planets are in their orbits, it could be Mars, Venus or Mercury!

If you really want to know which planet is closest right now - I'll have to consult an Almanac (yes I do have one handy)

Answer 6

At the moment, Mercury is the closest planet to the Earth. This is reasonably uncommon; much more often, Venus or Mars is closer.

Everyone who is saying "Mars" is wrong, because although Mars's orbit is close to Earth, that doesn't make Mars the closest planet all the time, because half the time Mars is on the other side of the Sun.

EDIT: Venus is closer than Mars *sometimes*. Mars is closer than Venus at *other times*. At still other times, such as right now, Mercury is closer than ether of them. The planets are not their orbits. The orbits are not the planets.

Answer 7

from the sun.......Mercury

Answer 8

Mars.

Answer 9

remember, we are the 3rd rock from the sun, after us is mars (the 4th)... etc

Answer 10

The nearest planet to where I'm sitting is earth.

Answer 11

Mars!

Answer 12

no venus is closer to us then mars.

Answer 13

-_-

Are you kidding? If you are a troll, this is pretty funny. But you're a top contributor, so that doesn't make sense. Is this just a one time joke? It has to be, right?

Answer 14

I feel the nearest planet (if at all with respect to us) is

Earth!!!!!!!! Hopefully :)

Answer 15

Earth.  It's right beneath our feet...

Answer 16

Planet Airbrain.

population:chavs and barbie clones!

Answer 17

I thought Mars was closer to us.

Why?  Are you thinking of going?

Answer 18

Mars is closest to Earth assuming the planets were in allignment.

Answer 19

They say mars but I believe they all should double check themselves.  Venus is closer to us than Mars.  Mars is the nearest most-likely-habital planet to Earth

Answer 20

Venus is to the earth and mercury is to the sun, which ever you are asking for.

Answer 21

Mars:

When it is at its closest to the Earth, called favorable opposition by astronomers, it is only about 35 million miles away. At its greatest distance from the Earth the trip would be about 250 million miles, so travel dates should be considered carefully.

Yes us, Maggie P, who else did you think he was talking about?

Answer 22

Mars

Answer 23

Pluto, duh

Answer 24

to us? mars