Planets in our solar system.

Entity["Planet",name] or

represents an entity of type "Planet".

[prop]

gives the value of a specified property.

[{prop1,}]

gives the value of a list of properties.

[prop,{qualivali,}]

gives the value of a specified property modified by qualifier rules quali->vali.

[Dated[prop,date]]

gives the value of a property associated with a particular date specification.

EntityClass["Planet",{propispeci,}]

represents a class of entities with values of propi defined by speci.

Sample Entities

Sample Entity Classes

Properties

  • AbsoluteMagnitudeHabsolute magnitude H
    Ageage
    Albedoalbedo
    AlphanumericNamealphanumeric name
    AlternateNamesalternate names
    Altitudealtitude
    AltitudeMaximumnext maximum altitude
    AngularDiameterFromEarthangular diameter
    AngularRadiusFromEarthangular radius
    Aphelionlargest distance from the Sun
    Apoapsislargest distance from Sun
    ApoapsisTimenext apoapsis time
    ApoapsisTimeLastlast apoapsis time
    ApparentAltitudeapparent altitude
    ApparentMagnitudeapparent magnitude
    AscendingNodeLongitudelongitude of ascending node Ω
    AtmosphericCompositionatmospheric composition
    AtmosphericPressureatmospheric pressure
    AtmosphericScaleHeightatmospheric scale height
    AuthalicDiameterauthalic diameter
    AuthalicRadiusauthalic radius
    AverageDistanceFromEarthaverage distance from Earth
    AverageOrbitalCentripetalForceaverage orbital centripetal force
    AverageOrbitDistanceaverage orbit distance
    AverageOrbitVelocityaverage orbit velocity
    AverageTemperatureaverage temperature
    AverageVelocityAroundSunaverage heliocentric velocity
    Azimuthazimuth
    BondAlbedobond albedo
    BooleanRiseabove the horizon
    Classesclasses
    Colorcolor
    Constellationconstellation
    CylindricalEquidistantTexturecylindrical equidistant texture
    DailyTimeAboveHorizondaily time above horizon
    Declinationdeclination
    Densitymean density
    Diameteraverage diameter
    Discoverersdiscoverers
    DiscoveryDatediscovery date
    DistanceFromEarthdistance from Earth
    DistanceFromSundistance from Sun
    EccentricAnomalyeccentric anomaly
    Eccentricityorbital eccentricity
    EffectiveTemperatureeffective temperature
    EntityClassesentity classes
    EntityTypeListentity type list
    EquatorialAngularVelocityequatorial angular velocity
    EquatorialCircumferenceequatorial circumference
    EquatorialDiameterequatorial diameter
    EquatorialFrequencyequatorial frequency
    EquatorialRadiusequatorial radius
    EquatorialVelocityequatorial velocity
    EscapeVelocityescape velocity
    FarthestPlanetfarthest planet
    GalacticLatitudegalactic latitude
    GalacticLongitudegalactic longitude
    GeocentricEclipticLatitudegeocentric ecliptic latitude
    GeocentricEclipticLongitudegeocentric ecliptic longitude
    Glyphastrological symbol
    GravitationalConstantMassProductgravitational constant mass product
    Gravitygravity
    GreenwichHourAngleGreenwich hour angle
    HeliocentricEclipticLatitudeheliocentric ecliptic latitude
    HeliocentricEclipticLongitudeheliocentric ecliptic longitude
    HelioCoordinatesheliocentric XYZ coordinates
    HelioVelocityVectorheliocentric velocity vector
    HillRadiusHill radius
    Imageimage
    Inclinationorbital inclination
    LocalHourAnglelocal hour angle
    MajorAxisorbital major axis
    Massmass
    MaximalAltitudeTimenext maximum altitude time
    MaximumOrbitalCentripetalForcemaximum orbital centripetal force
    MaximumTemperaturemaximum temperature
    MeanAnomalymean anomaly
    MeanMotionmean motion
    MinimumOrbitalCentripetalForceminimum orbital centripetal force
    MinimumTemperatureminimum temperature
    MinorAxisorbital minor axis
    MomentOfInertiarotational moment of inertia
    MoonCountnumber of moons
    NAIFIdentifierNAIF identifier
    Namename
    NearestPlanetnearest planet
    NorthPoleDeclinationnorth pole declination
    NorthPoleRightAscensionnorth pole right ascension
    ObjectTypeobject type
    Oblatenessoblateness
    Obliquityobliquity
    OppositionTimeLastlast opposition time
    OppositionTimeNearestnearest opposition time
    OppositionTimeNextnext opposition time
    OrbitalAngularMomentumorbital angular momentum
    OrbitalCentripetalForceorbital centripetal force
    OrbitalKineticEnergyorbital kinetic energy
    OrbitalMomentOfInertiaorbital moment of inertia
    OrbitCenterorbit center
    OrbitCircumferenceorbit circumference
    OrbitPathorbit path
    OrbitPeriodorbital period
    OrbitRulesorbit rules
    Periapsissmallest distance from Sun
    PeriapsisArgumentargument of periapsis ω
    PeriapsisLongitudelongitude of periapsis ϖ
    PeriapsisTimenext periapsis time
    PeriapsisTimeLastlast periapsis time
    Perihelionnearest distance from the Sun
    PolarCircumferencepolar circumference
    PolarDiameterpolar diameter
    PolarRadiuspolar radius
    Radiusaverage radius
    RetrogradeApparentMotionQueryapparent direction
    RightAscensionright ascension
    RingSystemInnerDiameterring system inner diameter
    RingSystemInnerRadiusring system inner radius
    RingSystemOuterDiameterring system outer diameter
    RingSystemOuterRadiusring system outer radius
    RingSystemThicknessring system thickness
    RingSystemWidthring system width
    RiseTimenext rise
    RocheLimitRoche limit
    RotationalAngularMomentumrotational angular momentum
    RotationPeriodrotation period
    Satellitesknown satellites
    SemimajorAxisorbital semimajor axis
    SemiminorAxisorbital semiminor axis
    SetTimenext set
    Shapeshape
    SiderealHourAnglesidereal hour angle
    SolarConjunctionTimeLastlast solar conjunction time
    SolarConjunctionTimeNearestnearest solar conjunction time
    SolarConjunctionTimeNextnext solar conjunction time
    SolarDaysolar day
    SolidAngleFromEarthsolid angle
    SphereOfInfluenceRadiussphere of influence radius
    StationaryOrbitRadiusstationary orbit radius
    StationaryOrbitSpeedstationary orbit speed
    SurfaceAreasurface area
    TexturedSurface3D graphic
    TrueAnomalytrue anomaly
    VelocityAroundSuninstantaneous heliocentric velocity
    Volumevolume
    VolumetricDiametervolumetric diameter
    VolumetricRadiusvolumetric radius
    ZenithAnglezenith angle

Details

  • "Planet" entities include all eight planets recognized by the International Astronomical Union.
  • "Planet" entity classes include inner and outer planets in addition to ringed planets.
  • Some properties are available for the "Planet" entity type as a whole and can be given using the form EntityValue["Planet",property]. Such properties include:
  • "Properties"the list of available properties
    "PropertyCanonicalNames"the standard names of available properties
    "SampleEntities"a sample list of available entities (typically of length 10)
    "SampleEntityClasses"a sample list of available entity classes (typically of length 10)
    "EntityCount"number of entities available
    "Entities"the list of available entities
    "EntityCanonicalNames"the standard names of available entities
    "EntityClasses"the list of available entity classes
    "EntityClassCanonicalNames"the standard names of available entity classes
    "PropertyClasses"the list of available property classes
    "PropertyClassCanonicalNames"the standard names of available property classes
    "PropertyCount"number of properties available
  • The following annotations can be used in the third argument of EntityValue["Planet",property,annotation]:
  • "Source"source information for the property
    "Date"the date associated with the entity-property value (if any)
    "EntityAssociation"an association of entities and entity-property values
    "PropertyAssociation"an association of properties and entity-property values
    "EntityPropertyAssociation"an association in which the specified entities are keys, and values are a nested association of properties and entity-property values
    "PropertyEntityAssociation"an association in which the specified properties are keys, and values are a nested association of entities and entity-property values
    "Dataset"a dataset in which the specified entities are keys, and values are an association of property names and entity-property values
  • The following annotations can be used in the second argument of EntityValue[property,annotation]:
  • "Qualifiers"the list of possible qualifiers for the property
    "QualifierValues"the list of possible values that can be given to each qualifier
    "DefaultQualifierValues"the list of default values for the property's qualifiers
    "Description"a brief textual description of the property
    "Definition"a detailed textual definition of the property
    "PhysicalQuantity"the physical quantity associated with the entity-property value
    "Unit"the unit associated with the entity-property value
  • A qualifier value of Automatic indicates that an applicable format of values can be used; e.g. for the "Date" qualifier, this includes a proper date or date span.

Examples

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Basic Examples  (10)

Use for discovery:

Find the mass of a planet:

Get a list of the planets:

Retrieve a dataset of all available properties for an entity:

Find the three most massive planets:

Find the radius of each planet:

Find the next rise time for a planet at your location and time:

Get a list of classes of planets:

Find the planets in a given class:

Make a graphic of solar system orbit paths:

Scope  (18)

The solar system planets:

Orbital eccentricity for each planet:

Orbital periods in sidereal years:

Rules for the orbital elements of Earth:

Obliquity of each planet:

Albedo of each planet:

An image of Jupiter:

The known satellites of Neptune:

Diameter of each satellite:

Orbit semimajor axis:

Number of known satellites for each planet:

Compute positions for Venus in the morning sky for 2009:

Implicit Entity Classes  (1)

Represent all of the planets with fewer than 15 moons:

Get a list of all the planets:

Property Classes  (1)

Represent equatorial coordinates properties associated with planets:

Get a list of available property classes for planets:

Find the list of properties included in a property class:

Obtain the property values for the properties in a property class for an entity:

Qualifiers  (5)

Some properties accept qualifiers:

The "Location" qualifier, which specifies the location of the observer, can accept an explicit GeoPosition, location-based Entity objects or queries that evaluate to one of these:

Dates  (4)

Date qualifiers can accept an explicit DateObject or queries that evaluate to a DateObject:

Date qualifiers can also be specified using Dated:

Compute the ecliptic path for a planet over the course of a year:

The paths for the visible planets:

The distance from Earth to the visible planets over a year:

The apparent magnitude of the visible planets as viewed from Earth over a year:

Geo Computation  (1)

Create maps of planets:

Applications  (2)

Make a table of densities of planets:

Log-log plot of orbital period versus distance for the planets, illustrating Kepler's third law:

Relations to Other Entity Types  (3)

"Planet" entities have natural satellites from the "PlanetaryMoon" domain:

Atmospheric composition is specified using "Chemical" entities:

"Planet" entities can be combined with "SolarSystemFeature" entities to create maps with labeled features:

Possible Issues  (2)

Pluto is not included in the list of solar system planets:

It is now considered a "dwarf planet":

Some information is unknown, for a variety of different reasons:

Neat Examples  (1)

Plot the orbit period versus the orbit semimajor axis for planets in the solar system: