what is the distance from the furthest known planet to earth?

Answer 1

TO PLUTO (and to CHARON):

Pluto's distance from the sun varies between 29,6 AU (at its closest or perihelion) and 49.3 AU (at its farthest away or aphelion) where 1 AU = 93 million miles,

Then you have to subtract 1 AU if the Earth is on the near side of the Sun to Pluto or add 1 AU if the Earth is on the far side of the Sun from Pluto,

So nearest possible is 28.6 AU (2.6598 billion miles) and furthest possible is 50.3 AU (4.6779 billion miles),


TO XENA:

Perihelion 37.77 AU (5.65 Terametres)
Aphelion 97.56 AU (14.60 Terametres)
Orbital period 203,500 d (557 Earth Years)

Xena and its moon Gabrielle are currently the most distant known solar system objects from the Sun at a distance of 67.669 AUs,

Then you have to subtract 1 AU if the Earth is on the near side of the Sun to Xena or add 1 AU if the Earth is on the far side of the Sun from Xena,

Giving us a nearest possible distance of 36.77 AU (3.4196 billion miles) and furthest possible is 98.56 AU (9.1661 billion miles)

TO FURTHEST KNOWN EXOPLANET:

On January 25, 2006 the discovery of OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb was announced. This is the most distant (117.5 quadrillion miles) and probably the coldest exoplanet yet found. It is believed to orbit a red dwarf star around 21,500 light years away, towards the centre of our galaxy. It was discovered using gravitational microlensing and is estimated to have a mass of 5.5 times that of Earth, making it the least massive known exoplanet to orbit an ordinary main-sequence star.

Answer 2

Well, that's changed with the introduction of Xena

The new planet is the most distant object ever seen in orbit around the sun, even more distant than Sedna, the planetoid discovered almost 2 years ago.

It is almost 10 billion miles from the sun and more than 3 times more distant than the next closest planet, Pluto and takes more than twice as long to orbit the sun as Pluto.

Answer 3

This question cannot ever have a clear answer because the question is too broad. Planets (along with earth) are not stationary, so with ever passing second, the furthest planet is either getting closer or further away. To get this question answered, you need to rephrase the question.

Answer 4

other stars in the universe have planets too, you know. Even scientists do not know how far away those planets are.they found the planets by noticing how a star wobbled.this is caused by the pull of gravity from planets.that is how they deduced that there were planets.i am not sure but i think the furthest is approximately 57903880970 billion miles away.

Answer 5

The finding was reported in the journal Nature by a team of researchers from 12 countries.

Similarly, at a distance of more than 20,000 light years from Earth, it is probably the most distant such planet yet found, said study co-author David Bennett of the University of Notre Dame. But distance estimates are too uncertain to be highly confident of that, he said.

why does it matter to you?

Answer 6

(this doesn't count Xena, which I didn't know about...)

It depends on whether you consider Pluto a planet. Right now its status as a planet is in debate, as astronomers are pondering redefining what a planet is.

If you do consider it a planet, Pluto can be anywhere from 2.757 to 4.583 billion miles away from the sun.

Meanwhile, Neptune (the next closest planet) is anywhere from 2.77 to 2.82 billion miles away from the sun.

Earth can be anywhere from 91 - 94.5 million miles from the sun.

You can do the math ;)

Answer 7

Within our solar system it switched back to Pluto in 1999. It orbits somewhere around 3.5 Billion miles from the Sun.

If you are talking about extrasolar planets, of which there are almost 200, then light years are the measure of choice.

Check out http://planetquest1.jpl.nasa.gov for the real info.

Answer 8

Other stars are known to have planets. One of those, I guess.