PlanetData

For general access to the Wolfram Knowledgebase, use entities of type Planet instead of PlanetData.

PlanetData[entity,property]

gives the value of the specified property for the planet entity.

PlanetData[{entity1,entity2,},property]

gives a list of property values for the specified planet entities.

PlanetData[entity,property,annotation]

gives the specified annotation associated with the property.

Details

  • PlanetData[] gives a list of all planet entities.
  • PlanetData["Properties"] gives a list of available properties.
  • The specified entity in PlanetData can be an Entity, EntityClass, entity canonical name, or list thereof.
  • The specified property can be an EntityProperty, EntityPropertyClass, property canonical name, or list of properties.
  • Properties that do not apply or are not known in a particular case are indicated by Missing[].
  • Properties include:
  • "AbsoluteMagnitudeH"absolute magnitude H
    "Age"age
    "Albedo"albedo
    "AlphanumericName"alphanumeric name
    "AlternateNames"alternate names
    "Altitude"altitude
    "AltitudeMaximum"next maximum altitude
    "AngularDiameterFromEarth"angular diameter as seen from Earth
    "AngularRadiusFromEarth"angular radius as seen from Earth
    "Aphelion"largest distance from the Sun
    "Apoapsis"largest distance from orbit center
    "ApoapsisTime"next apoapsis time
    "ApoapsisTimeLast"last apoapsis time
    "ApparentAltitude"apparent altitude
    "ApparentMagnitude"apparent magnitude
    "AscendingNodeLongitude"longitude of ascending node
    "AtmosphericComposition"atmospheric composition
    "AtmosphericPressure"atmospheric pressure
    "AtmosphericScaleHeight"atmospheric scale height
    "AuthalicDiameter"authalic diameter
    "AuthalicRadius"authalic radius
    "AverageDistanceFromEarth"average distance from Earth
    "AverageOrbitDistance"average orbit distance
    "AverageOrbitVelocity"average orbit velocity
    "AverageTemperature"average temperature
    "AverageVelocityAroundSun"average heliocentric velocity
    "Azimuth"azimuth
    "BooleanRise"above the horizon
    "Classes"classes
    "Color"color
    "Constellation"constellation
    "CylindricalEquidistantTexture"cylindrical equidistant texture
    "DailyTimeAboveHorizon"daily time above horizon
    "Declination"declination
    "Density"mean density
    "Diameter"average diameter
    "Discoverers"discoverers
    "DiscoveryYear"discovery year
    "DistanceFromEarth"distance from Earth
    "DistanceFromSun"distance from Sun
    "EccentricAnomaly"eccentric anomaly
    "Eccentricity"orbital eccentricity
    "EffectiveTemperature"effective temperature
    "EquatorialAngularVelocity"equatorial angular velocity
    "EquatorialCircumference"equatorial circumference
    "EquatorialDiameter"equatorial diameter
    "EquatorialFrequency"equatorial frequency
    "EquatorialRadius"equatorial radius
    "EquatorialVelocity"equatorial velocity
    "EscapeVelocity"escape velocity
    "FarthestPlanet"farthest solar system planet
    "GalacticLatitude"galactic latitude
    "GalacticLongitude"galactic longitude
    "GeocentricEclipticLatitude"geocentric ecliptic latitude
    "GeocentricEclipticLongitude"geocentric ecliptic longitude
    "Glyph"astrological symbol
    "GravitationalConstantMassProduct"standard gravitational parameter
    "Gravity"gravity
    "GreenwichHourAngle"Greenwich hour angle
    "HeliocentricEclipticLatitude"heliocentric ecliptic latitude
    "HeliocentricEclipticLongitude"heliocentric ecliptic longitude
    "HelioCoordinates"heliocentric XYZ coordinates
    "HillRadius"Hill radius
    "Inclination"orbital inclination
    "LocalHourAngle"local hour angle
    "MajorAxis"major axis
    "Mass"mass
    "MaximalAltitudeTime"next maximum altitude time
    "MaximumTemperature"maximum temperature
    "MeanAnomaly"mean anomaly
    "MeanMotion"mean motion
    "MinimumTemperature"minimum temperature
    "MinorAxis"minor axis
    "MomentOfInertia"rotational moment of inertia
    "MoonCount"number of moons
    "Name"name
    "NearestPlanet"nearest solar system planet
    "NorthPoleDeclination"north pole declination
    "NorthPoleRightAscension"north pole right ascension
    "Oblateness"oblateness
    "Obliquity"obliquity
    "OrbitalAngularMomentum"orbital angular momentum
    "OrbitalKineticEnergy"orbital kinetic energy
    "OrbitalMomentOfInertia"orbital moment of inertia
    "OrbitCenter"orbit center
    "OrbitCircumference"orbit circumference
    "OrbitPath"orbit path
    "OrbitPeriod"orbital period
    "OrbitRules"orbit rules
    "Periapsis"nearest distance from orbit center
    "PeriapsisArgument"argument of periapsis
    "PeriapsisLongitude"longitude of periapsis
    "PeriapsisTime"next periapsis time
    "PeriapsisTimeLast"last periapsis time
    "Perihelion"nearest distance from the Sun
    "PolarCircumference"polar circumference
    "PolarDiameter"polar diameter
    "PolarRadius"polar radius
    "Radius"average radius
    "RetrogradeApparentMotionQuery"apparent direction
    "RightAscension"right ascension
    "RingSystemInnerDiameter"ring system inner diameter
    "RingSystemInnerRadius"ring system inner radius
    "RingSystemOuterDiameter"ring system outer diameter
    "RingSystemOuterRadius"ring system outer radius
    "RingSystemThickness"ring system thickness
    "RingSystemWidth"ring system width
    "RiseTime"next rise
    "RocheLimit"Roche limit
    "RotationalAngularMomentum"rotational angular momentum
    "RotationPeriod"rotation period
    "Satellites"known satellites
    "SemimajorAxis"semimajor axis
    "SemiminorAxis"semiminor axis
    "SetTime"next set
    "Shape"shape
    "SiderealHourAngle"sidereal hour angle
    "SolarDay"solar day
    "SolidAngleFromEarth"solid angle
    "SphereOfInfluenceRadius"sphere of influence radius
    "StationaryOrbitRadius"stationary orbit radius
    "StationaryOrbitSpeed"stationary orbit speed
    "SurfaceArea"surface area
    "TexturedSurface"3D graphic
    "TrueAnomaly"true anomaly
    "VelocityAroundSun"instantaneous heliocentric velocity
    "Volume"volume
    "VolumetricDiameter"volumetric diameter
    "VolumetricRadius"volumetric radius
  • Some properties are available for PlanetData as a whole and can be given using the form PlanetData[property]. Such properties include:
  • "Entities"all available entities
    "EntityCount"total number of available entities
    "Classes"all available entity classes
    "EntityClassCount"total number of available entity classes
    "SampleEntities"list of sample entities
    "SampleEntityClasses"list of sample entity classes
    "EntityCanonicalNames"list of all entity canonical names
    "PropertyCanonicalNames"list of all property canonical names
    "EntityClassCanonicalNames"list of all entity class canonical names
    "RandomEntities"pseudorandom sample entities
    {"RandomEntities",n}n pseudorandom entities
    "RandomEntityClasses"pseudorandom sample entity classes
    {"RandomEntityClasses",n}n pseudorandom entity classes
  • The following annotations can be used in the third argument of PlanetData[entity,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
    "Source"source information for the property
    "Date"the date associated with the entity-property value (if any)
    "PhysicalQuantity"the physical quantity associated with the entity-property value
    "Unit"the unit associated with the entity-property value
    "EntityAssociation"an association of entities and entity-property values
    "PropertyAssociation"an association of properties and entity-property values
  • If a function is provided as an annotation, it will be used to aggregate the result data. Typical aggregation functions include:
  • Minthe minimum value
    Maxthe maximum value
    Meanthe mean value
    Commonestthe most frequently occurring value
    Medianthe median value
    Totalreturn the total
    Lengththe number of elements

Examples

open allclose all

Basic Examples  (8)

Use for discovery:

Find the mass of a planet:

Get a list of the planets:

Find the radius of each planet:

Find the next rise time for a planet from 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  (15)

The solar system planets:

Orbital eccentricity for each planet:

Orbital periods:

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:

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

Date qualifiers can also be specified using Dated:

Location qualifiers can accept an explicit GeoPosition, location-based Entity objects, or queries that evaluate to one of these:

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:

Compute positions for Venus in the morning sky for 2009:

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:

Properties & Relations  (1)

PlanetData can be combined with SolarSystemFeatureData 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 orbit period versus orbit semimajor axis for planets in the solar system:

Wolfram Research (2014), PlanetData, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/PlanetData.html.

Text

Wolfram Research (2014), PlanetData, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/PlanetData.html.

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2014. "PlanetData." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/PlanetData.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2014). PlanetData. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/PlanetData.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2023_planetdata, author="Wolfram Research", title="{PlanetData}", year="2014", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/PlanetData.html}", note=[Accessed: 19-March-2024 ]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2023_planetdata, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={PlanetData}, year={2014}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/PlanetData.html}, note=[Accessed: 19-March-2024 ]}