How do you relate and explain a planet's distance from the Sun to factors like the length of its year and its average temperature?

What we call a "year" is the time a body takes to complete one orbital revolution in its path around the sun. The way gravity works, the farther a planet is from the sun, the slower it moves, and the longer it takes to complete that trip. So, farther out from the sun means a longer "year".
Everybody knows that if you want to get more warmth, then you have to stand closer to the fire, and it's the same with planets. The farther a planet is from the sun, the less heat it gets from the sun, and in most cases, that means its average temperature is lower. (The planet's average temperature is affected by other things besides its distance from the sun, such as how much heat comes up from inside, and how much heat its atmosphere traps.)
The farther a planet's rotation axis is tilted from being perpendicular to the plane of its orbit, the more seasonal variation there can be in the temperature at any one place on its surface. Of course, this is kind of irrelevant if the planet has no surface.

Answered by AL2006 | 2024-06-10

A planet's distance from the Sun affects its orbital period, with farther planets taking longer to orbit and typically having cooler average temperatures due to less solar energy. For instance, Mercury orbits the Sun quickly but has extreme temperature variations, while Venus, further out, is hotter due to its dense atmosphere. Additionally, factors like axial tilt and atmospheric composition further influence a planet's climate and temperature.
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Answered by AL2006 | 2024-12-24