Fastest Planet in Solar System According To Revolution And Rotation

Fastest Revolving Planet in Solar System

The speed of a particular planet depends on its revolution around the sun as well as its rotation on its own axis. The fastest planet of the solar system with reference to revolution is Mercury. On the other hand, the fastest planet with reference to rotation is Jupiter.

The revolution of a planet around the sun is due to the gravitational pull of the sun. The closer a planet is to the sun, the greater would be the quantity of the gravitational force being exerted on it. Therefore, the planet would rotate at a fast speed. Since Mercury is the closest planet to the sun in the solar system, it revolves around the sun at a speed faster than any other planet in this system. Moving at a speed of approximately twenty-nine miles per second, Mercury completes one revolution is eighty-eight days. Therefore, the duration of one year on Mercury is just eighty-eight days on Earth. However, Mercury spins on its axis at a slow speed, with the duration of a single day being equal to fifty-eight days on Earth.

Jupiter, on the other hand, takes just 9.9 hours to complete one rotation. Jupiter is the largest planet of the solar system with the largest radius. According to mathematical laws, the spinning speed of an object with a large radius should be slow. However, the different phenomena which occurred during the formation of Jupiter millions of years ago led to the shrinkage of the planet in size. This shrinkage was more in quantity than the shrinkage of any other planet of the solar system. Therefore, the resulting increase the spinning speed was greatest for Jupiter.

Mercury View