Space Station Info :: Earth

Our Space Earth

Earth is the third closest planet to the Sun at a distance of about 150 million kilometers (93.2 million miles). It takes 365.256 days for the Earth to travel around the Sun and 23.9345 hours for the Earth rotate a complete revolution. It has a diameter of 12,756 kilometers (7,973 miles), only a few hundred kilometers larger than that of Venus. Our atmosphere is composed of 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen and 1 percent other constituents.

Earth is also called as Terra and Tellus. Its astronomical symbol consists of a circled cross, representing a meridian and the equator; a variant puts the cross atop the circle. Besides words derived from Terra, such as terrestrial, terms that refer to the Earth include tellur- (telluric, tellurian, from the Roman goddess Tellus) and geo- (geocentric, geothermal; from the Greek goddess Gaia).

Earth is an Old English and German word, it was 'ertha' in Old Saxon, 'aerde' in Dutch, and 'erda' in German, it simply means 'land'. Earth's atmosphere protects us from meteors, most of which burn up before they can strike the surface.

You could also see

  Physical Characteristics of Earth
  Earth in the Solar System
  Earths Moon