Do you think you might know what planet is closest to Earth?

Well, you might be in for a bit of a surprise after you read this article.

Most of us were taught in school that the order of the planets is Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (until 2006).

But engineers who are affiliated with NASA, Los Alamos National Observatory, and the US Army’s Engineer Research Development Center surprised everyone with an article published that turns that old notion on its head.

The engineers used a computer simulation they built to calculate how close Earth has been to its three closest planets over a 10,000-year period.

And, simply put: Mercury is, on average, closer to Earth than Venus, beating out Venus and Mars.

 

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In fact, the simulation showed that all seven planets spend most of their time closer to Mercury than any other planet.

The engineers used a mathematical equation called the point-circle method (PCM) to calculate the average distance of two planets as they orbit the sun. The results they came up with using their method differed a whopping 300% from traditional calculations.

Check out the video below to get all the fascinating details!