How Long Does It Take to Orbit the Sun?
The time it takes to orbit the Sun depends on the planet. Because of gravity, the mass of the planet and other considerations, objects closer to the Sun tend to have a faster orbit. Earth, the third planet from the Sun, takes 365.26 days to orbit the Sun.
Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, orbits the Sun in 88 Earth days, and Venus, which is the planet second closest to the Sun, orbits it in 224.7 Earth days. Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, completes an orbit around the Sun in about 1.8 Earth years, and Jupiter orbits the Sun in 12 Earth years. Though it is the fifth planet from the Sun, it is so far away from the star that it’s considered the first of the outer planets. The asteroid belt intervenes between Mars and Jupiter.
Saturn orbits in 29.45 Earth years, and it takes Uranus 84 Earth years to complete an orbit. Neptune is so far away from the Sun, and its orbit is so irregular, that there are times when it is farther from the Sun than the dwarf planet Pluto. It completes an orbit around the sun every 248 years. This means that since it was discovered in 1846, it has completed one orbit.
