What conclusion can you draw about a planet's properties just by knowing how far it is from the sun?

Question

4666 views around the world

You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License

Answer 1 · 2016-02-04T08:11:05

Perihelion, aphelion and orbital period increase with distance, Orbital velocity decreases.

Such trends are absent in respect of other orbital characteristics like eccentricity and physical characteristics like gravity and day-night spin..

Answer 2 · 2016-02-04T08:17:22

You can determine its orbital period from its distance from the Sun.

If you know the semi-major axis distance #a# of a planet form the Sun you can determine its period #T# using Kepler's third law:
#T^2=a^3#

Other than that the planets closest to the Sun are rocky and the more distant planets are gas giants. Planets nearer the Sun are also warmer.

The period and temperature are the only properties of a planet which are dependent upon its position from the Sun.