Earth

The Earth is the third of the eight planets from the Sun. To date it is the only known planet to possess life as we know it.

Earthrise taken on the Apollo mission, 1969.

Basic Facts:

Diameter (at the Equator): 12,756 km, or 7,926 miles.

Diameter (at the Poles): 12,714 km, or 7,900 miles.

Circumference (at the Equator): 40,075 km, or 24,903 miles.

Total Surface Area: 509,450,000 sq km, or 196,672,000 sq miles.

Total Land Area: 149,450,000 sq km, or 57,688,000 sq miles (29.3% of total surface area).

Total Water Area: 360,000,000 sq km, or 138,984,000 sq miles (70.6% of total surface area).

The Earth is one of the most cosmologically interesting and biologically complex and wonderful objects in the universe. Research in the last four decades strongly supports what astronomers call the Anthropic Principle which states that "all the features of the universe appear fine-tuned for the benefit of human life on Earth." The location in the universe where Earth first took shape, its subsequent movement to its current location in our galaxy, its order, place and size (and the size of the other bodies) in the our solar system, all prepared it for the possibility not only of life, but for advanced life on earth. As a bonus, our current location in the galaxy provides us with a view of the universe that makes it possible for us to explore and map out the details of the universe and its history. Physicist Freeman Dyson says in his book, Disturbing the Universe (Basic Books, 1979), "The more I examine the universe and study the details of its architecture, the more evidence I find that the universe in some sense must have known we are coming."

For an engaging examination of the Earth, see Hugh Ross, Improbable Planet: How Earth Became Humanity's Home. Grand Rapids: BakerBooks, 2017.

View video by Hugh Ross on the Anthropic Principle ☰