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Visible Planet Orbits
 
 
Visible Planet Orbits
This diagram shows the relative size of the orbits of the seven planets visible to the naked eye. All the orbits are nearly circular (but slightly elliptical) and nearly in the same plane as Earth's orbit (called the ecliptic).

The diagram is from a view out of the ecliptic plane and away from the perpendicular axis that goes through the Sun.

Image Credit: Lunar and Planetary Institue
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