Which planet moves the fastest?
In our Solar System, the fastest mover is Mercury. It zips along its orbit at nearly 31 miles per second and completes an orbit of the Sun every 88 days – that’s why early stargazers named it after the fleet-footed messenger of the gods. Outside the Solar System, however, there are planets that would leave Mercury in their dust. New ones are being found all the time, but one of the most impressive examples so far is probably WASP-12 b, discovered in 2008. This world, some 871 light years from Earth in the constellation of Auriga, takes just 26 hours and 12 minutes to orbit its star. It’s a famous example of a ‘hot Jupiter’ – a gas giant like our own Jupiter, but with an atmosphere that’s heated to a scalding 2,200 degrees Celsius.