how far in miles is the earths orbit and how does one derive that number?

Question

how far in miles is the earths orbit and how does one derive that number?

Answer 1

Earth orbits the Sun at a distance of about 93,000,000 miles. This distance is called an Astronomical Unit (AU) and measuring it was very difficult, before the space age.

Answer 2

The "average" distance from the earth to the sun is 93 million miles. Finding the distance from the earth to the sun is quite easy as it uses geometry and trigonometry. It works like this:

Find two locations on earth and determine the distance between them. The further apart the points the better. Note the angle of the sun in the sky at each point. This angle will be slightly different from the two points. Now draw a triangle between the sun and the two points. The base of the triangle will be the distance between the two points. This is the geometry portion. Using the known distance and the two known angles, you can figure the distance to the sun using trigonometry.

So how is this done? Using the law of sines. Let's call the angle at the first ground point A, the second B, and the sun C. The angles inside a triangle add up to 180 degrees. The two angles at points A and B are known. The distance from A to B is known and is opposite of angle C and is known as c.

The Law of Sines states that a/sinA = b/sinB = c/SinC
So now you know the distance c, and the angle C. You also know angles A and B. Solving the equation for a or b will give you the distance to the sun from each of those points. (Note: The difference between a and b will be so small a fraction at these angles that it does not matter that much which one you solve for.)

Answer 3

It takes roughly 365.25 days for the Earth to go around the Sun once. The Earth is rushing through space around the Sun at a rate of about 67,000 miles per hour! Do the math.

This results are arrived at by observation.

Answer 4

The radius is 93,000,000 miles which makes the circumference about 27,157,860,000,000,000 miles. Unclear which u mean by "distance of orbit"

Answer 5

This is our planet Earth. The third planet form the Sun. Distance from the Sun is 150,000,000 KM, it's diameter is 12,760 KM, mass = 6x10^23 Kgrams. Please recycle to keep it alive!!!
Circumference = Radius * 2 * pi
942,480,000KM... This nuber is derived with two very basci pieces of information, earths distance from sun, and the basic geometric formula above

Answer 6

campbelp is right. The radius is 93,000,000 miles. Then just multiply that by 2 pi to get how far the earth travels in one year.