Earth is our home in space. It’s a ball of rock about 12,760 kilometers in diameter, with a thin covering of water and air at its surface. If there were a road that stretched all the way across Earth’s equator, it would take 17 straight days of driving at 100 km/hr (62 mph) to go all the way around Earth.

Earth is the name of our planet in English, it derives from a Norse goddess named Jörð (Yördth), she’s a motherly figure. In English, earth (lowercase e) refers to dirt, or the ground. Capital E–Earth–refers to the planet. Several other cultures also name our planet after a motherly goddess: Gaia (Greek), Terra (Latin), & Nohosdzáán (Navajo).

At an average distance of 150 million kilometers from the Sun, Earth is the 3rd planet in our Solar System. It’s the largest world in the Solar System with a solid surface.  

Earth spins on a single axis once every 23 hrs 56 min, and it orbits around the Sun once every 365.256 days. The spin axis is tilted relative to the orbit around the Sun by about 23.4°, which gives rise to the seasons.  

Earth has one natural satellite, the Moon.