Earth's orbit


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Earth's orbit
Earth's orbit is the path in which the Earth travels around the Sun. Earth lies at an average distance of 149.60 million kilometers (92.96 million miles) from the Sun and a complete orbit occurs every  days (1 sidereal year), during which time Earth travels 940 million kilometers (584 million miles). Earth's orbit has an eccentricity of 0.0167. Earth's orbital motion gives an apparent movement of the Sun with respect to other stars at a rate of about 1° per day (or a Sun or Moon diameter every 12 hours) eastward as seen from Earth. Earth's orbital speed averages about 30 km/s (108,000 km/h; 67,000 mph), which is fast enough to cover the planet's diameter in seven minutes and the distance to the Moon in four hours.

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Geocentric orbit
A geocentric orbit involves any object orbiting the Earth, such as the Moon or artificial satellites. In 1997 NASA estimated there were approximately 2,465 artificial satellite payloads orbiting the Earth and 6,216 pieces of space debris as tracked by the Goddard Space Flight Center. Over 16,291 previously launched objects have decayed into the Earth's atmosphere.

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