Every planet in our Solar System takes a unique amount of time to travel once around the Sun — a measure known as its orbital period. This duration depends on the planet’s distance from the Sun: the farther away it is, the longer its journey. Mercury, the nearest planet to the Sun, completes one orbit in just 88 Earth days, while Earth takes 365 days. Mars circles the Sun in about 687 Earth days — nearly two Earth years. Farther out, the gas giants move much more slowly: Jupiter’s year lasts abo