Planetary Thermal Environments

extracted from Thermal Environments JPL D-8160

Data for most of the planets are from Mariner or Voyager flyby or orbital missions. The lunar data is from the Apollo program. Data for Pluto is from Earth observations.

For general interest, the key orbital parameters (used for direct solar at the planet), its equatorial radius, and the dominate thermal environment (other than solar) are shown below.

Planet   Orbit Semi-   Perihelion   Aphelion    Radius      Dominant
         Major Axis     Distance    Distance  (Equatorial)  Thermal
            (AU)          (AU)        (AU)      
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mercury     0.3871       0.3075      0.4667      2425       Planetary Infrared
Venus       0.7233       0.7184      0.7282      6070       Albedo
Earth       1.0000       0.9833      1.0167      6378       Planetary IR. and Albedo
Moon        1.0000       0.9833      1.0167      1738       Planetary IR.
          +/-0.00258   +/-0.00258  +/-0.00258    
Mars        1.524        1.381       1.666       3387       Planetary IR.
Jupiter     5.20         4.95        5.45        71300      Albedo
Saturn      9.54         9.01        10.07       60100      Albedo
Uranus      19.18       18.28        20.09       24500      Albedo
Neptune     30.06       29.80        30.32       25100      Albedo
Pluto/      39.44       29.58        49.30        3200      Albedo (?)
Charon                                           (Pluto)

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