Planet 03 · Terrestrial ocean world

Earth

The only known world with a living ocean.

Earth is the largest rocky planet and the only place known to host life. Liquid surface water, plate tectonics, a protective magnetic field, and a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere make it unlike every other world we have examined.

View gallery ↓8816 linked missions ↓

Blue MarbleNASA Goddard Space Flight Center; image by Reto Stöckli; enhancements by Robert Simmon

Radius: 6,371 km
Distance from Sun: 1 AU
Day: 24 hours
Year: 365 Earth days
Axial tilt: 23.4°
Gravity: 1.00 g

World profile

Under the clouds.
Or under the dust.

Atmosphere

About 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% other gases.

Surface

A moving rocky crust with continents, ocean basins, ice, and active plate tectonics.

Temperature

Global average about 59 °F (15 °C)

Moons

One — the Moon

Composition

What Earth is made of

A solid iron-nickel inner core inside a liquid outer core
A 1,800-mile (2,900-kilometer) thick rocky mantle
A thin crust beneath an ocean covering about 71% of the surface

Field notes

Three things worth remembering

01
Earth is the only planet known to keep stable liquid water on its surface.
02
The moving liquid-metal outer core generates the magnetic field that helps shield the atmosphere.
03
The leading model for the Moon's origin starts with a giant impact into the young Earth.

Sourced image archive

Earth gallery

Every image keeps its credit, capture date, description, and original source. Mission imagery links back into the same Andromeda mission catalog.

NASA Blue Marble view of Earth showing the Western Hemisphere, oceans, clouds, and continents — Earth portrait
Blue Marble
A seamless true-color Western Hemisphere globe assembled from Terra MODIS observations of land, ocean, sea ice, and clouds.
Credit
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; image by Reto Stöckli; enhancements by Robert Simmon
Captured
August 2, 2002
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11 sourced gallery items

Connected mission archive

Missions tied to Earth

Flybys, orbiters, landers, atmospheric probes, rovers, launch missions, gravity assists, and system satellites are linked here when they exist in the Andromeda catalog.

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8816 linked missions · showing 649–672

Starlink-266 (10-32)

SpaceX is launching a batch of 27 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit. This is the 19th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Ax-2, Euclid, Ax-3, CRS-30, SES ASTRA 1P, NG-21, and 12 Starlink missions. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

View in 3D map

LaunchedMay 28 2025

Primary facts source

NASA Science · Earth facts ↗

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Earth