Template talk:Infobox planet

Template:Infobox planet is permanently protected from editing because it is a heavily used or highly visible template. Substantial changes should first be proposed and discussed here on this page. If the proposal is uncontroversial or has been discussed and is supported by consensus, editors may use {{edit template-protected}} to notify an administrator or template editor to make the requested edit. Usually, any contributor may edit the template's documentation to add usage notes or categories.

Any contributor may edit the template's sandbox. Functionality of the template can be checked using test cases.

Infoboxes

This template is within the scope of WikiProject Infoboxes, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Infoboxes on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.InfoboxesWikipedia:WikiProject InfoboxesTemplate:WikiProject InfoboxesInfoboxes

Astronomy: Astronomical objects / Solar System

	Astronomy portal This template is within the scope of WikiProject Astronomy, which collaborates on articles related to Astronomy on Wikipedia.AstronomyWikipedia:WikiProject AstronomyTemplate:WikiProject AstronomyAstronomy
	This template is supported by WikiProject Astronomical objects, which collaborates on articles related to astronomical objects.
	This template is supported by Solar System task force.

This template was considered for deletion on 2018 November 27. The result of the discussion was "to merge all the templates to Template:Infobox planet".

Archives

Archive 1	Archive 2	Archive 3
Archive 4	Archive 5	Archive 6
Archive 7	Archive 8	Archive 9
Archive 10	Archive 11	Archive 12

This page has archives. Sections older than 90 days may be automatically archived by when more than 4 sections are present.

Standard gravitational parameter

GM is typically known to higher precision than G or M, and is often encountered as such in formulae, so it's useful for more precise calculations. I wanted to add it for Earth, but it seems we need to discuss this. So, how about it? Is it too much detail for Wikipedia? If we don't allow it here, I don't see where else it might have a good place, so this data would be missing from Wikipedia, then. Darsie42 (talk) 12:23, 16 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think that would be too much detail for Wikipedia. GM is a very common parameter and it involves smaller and more intuitive values than either M alone. Elleh3113 (talk) 22:56, 12 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Ok, looks like we have a consensus :). OTOH I noticed there are not many values in Standard gravitational parameter. Maybe that's because we don't actually know too many GM values (to a significant precision). Then again we've orbited e.g. 101955 Bennu so we should have a pretty good GM of that and we could add more. I'll request it (possibly after some procrastination ;). Darsie42 (talk) 20:44, 11 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I'm overwhelmed. Someone else do it, please. Darsie42 (talk) 20:59, 11 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Should we pick Standard gravitational parameter, GM or µ? Darsie42 (talk) 21:31, 11 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Pole ecliptic latitude should come after ecliptic longitude

It is requested that an edit be made to the template-protected template at Template:Infobox planet.
(edit · history · last · links · sandbox · edit sandbox · sandbox history · sandbox last edit · sandbox diff · test cases · transclusion count · protection log)

This template must be followed by a complete and specific description of the request, so that an editor unfamiliar with the subject matter could complete the requested edit immediately.

Edit requests to template-protected pages should only be used for edits that are either uncontroversial or supported by consensus. If the proposed edit might be controversial, discuss it on the protected page's talk page before using this template. Consider making changes first to the template's sandbox and test them thoroughly here before submitting an edit request. To request that a page be protected or unprotected, make a protection request. When the request has been completed or denied, please add the |answered=yes parameter to deactivate the template.

I noticed that the north pole direction parameters in RA/Dec. versus Ecl. Long./Lat. coordinate systems have inconsistent ordering. When you specify both Pole RA and Dec. in the infobox, you see that Pole RA is listed before Pole Dec. However, when you specify both Pole Ecl. Long. and Lat. in the infobox, you see that Pole Ecl. Lat. is listed before Pole Ecl. Long.

My problem with this is that RA is equivalent to Ecl. Long., and Dec. is equivalent to Ecl. Lat., so for the sake of consistency it should make more sense that Ecl. Long./Lat. should follow the same ordering as RA/Dec. Swapping the current order of Ecl. Long./Lat. should be simple, as I've shown in this sandbox infobox edit here: [1] Nrco0e (talk • contribs) 22:22, 13 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I support this change. I believe it's also conventional in astronomy to specify coordinates with longitude first (see e.g., various catalog search tools [2] or [3]). Elleh3113 (talk) 22:02, 15 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Relisting

I don't know why this request didn't get a response, but if you need an exact idea of what to change, here's the markup:
Before:

| label89     = {{longitem|North&nbsp;pole {{nowrap|[[right ascension]]}}}}
|  data89     = {{{right_asc_north_pole|}}}
| label90     = {{longitem|North&nbsp;pole [[declination]]}}
|  data90     = {{{declination|}}}
| label91     = {{longitem|Pole [[Ecliptic coordinate system|ecliptic latitude]]}}
|  data91     = {{{pole_ecliptic_lat|}}}
| label92     = {{longitem|Pole [[Ecliptic coordinate system|ecliptic longitude]]}}
|  data92     = {{{pole_ecliptic_lon|}}}

After:

| label89     = {{longitem|North&nbsp;pole {{nowrap|[[right ascension]]}}}}
|  data89     = {{{right_asc_north_pole|}}}
| label90     = {{longitem|North&nbsp;pole [[declination]]}}
|  data90     = {{{declination|}}}
| label91     = {{longitem|Pole [[Ecliptic coordinate system|ecliptic longitude]]}}
|  data91     = {{{pole_ecliptic_lon|}}}
| label92     = {{longitem|Pole [[Ecliptic coordinate system|ecliptic latitude]]}}
|  data92     = {{{pole_ecliptic_lat|}}}

It's pretty much swapping places of label/data91 and 92. @Jonesey95: since you responded to my latest edit request earlier, can you do this one? Thanks. Nrco0e (talk • contribs) 18:27, 16 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Template-protected edit request on 4 June 2025

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

I suggest that (line #150)

| label78 = {{longitem|[[Spheroid#Surface area|Surface area]]}}

be replaced by

| label78 = {{longitem|[[Spheroid#Area|Surface area]]}}

GKNishimoto (talk) 17:17, 4 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Done — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 21:12, 4 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Edit request 16 July 2025

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Description of suggested change: I would like to introduce some new parameters for the "proper orbital elements" section. These are necessary for the infoboxes of irregular moon articles like Trinculo (moon) since they use "mean" (time-averaged, aka "proper") orbital elements from JPL's satellite mean elements page and dynamical studies, which use units/quantities like km, days, and periods instead of the conventional AU, yr, and frequency units/quantities for heliocentric asteroid proper elements. The new parameters I introduce have the term "unitless" appended to them; this should (hopefully) make it clear that units aren't automatically added and numbers aren't recomputed like what the currently existing parameters do.

I also want to give a sidenote to clarify things. This isn't too important, but worth reading if you're well-versed in this: JPL's mean elements list includes quantities such as argument of periapsis, longitude of ascending node, and mean anomaly which define the position and orientation of the object's orbit; these are not applicable for proper elements, since the aforementioned quantities vary over time and therefore must be associated with a single epoch (which JPL includes in their orbit list). So these quantities are reserved for the already-existing parameters under the "Orbital characteristics" header. This is why I didn't introduce stuff like "proper argument of periapsis" in my edit request; it's because such a thing doesn't exist. Nrco0e (talk • contribs) 07:53, 16 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Original:

| header60    = [[Proper orbital elements]]{{{p_orbit_ref|}}}
| label61     = {{longitem|Proper [[Semi-major and semi-minor axes|semi-major axis]]}}
|  data61     = {{#if:{{{p_semimajor|}}} |{{{p_semimajor}}}&nbsp;[[Astronomical unit|AU]]}}
| label62     = {{longitem|Proper [[Orbital eccentricity|eccentricity]]}}
|  data62     = {{{p_eccentricity|}}}
| label63     = {{longitem|Proper [[Orbital inclination|inclination]]}}
|  data63     = {{{p_inclination|}}}
| label64     = {{longitem|Proper [[mean motion]]}}
|  data64     = {{#if:{{{p_mean_motion|}}} |{{{p_mean_motion}}}&nbsp;[[Degree (angle)|deg]]{{\}}[[Julian year (astronomy)|yr]]}}
| label65     = {{longitem|Proper [[orbital period]]}}
|  data65     = {{#if:{{{p_mean_motion|}}}|{{#expr:360/{{{p_mean_motion|1}}} round 5}} [[Julian year (astronomy)|yr]]<br />({{#expr:365.25*360/{{{p_mean_motion|1}}} round 3}} [[day|d]]) }}
| label66     = {{longitem|Precession of [[Apsis|perihelion]]}}
|  data66     = {{#if:{{{perihelion_rate|}}}|{{{perihelion_rate}}}&nbsp;[[Arcsecond|arcsec]]{{\}}[[Julian year (astronomy)|yr]] }}
| label67     = {{longitem|Precession&nbsp;of the [[Longitude of the ascending node|ascending&nbsp;node]]}}
|  data67     = {{#if:{{{node_rate|}}}|{{{node_rate}}}&nbsp;[[Arcsecond|arcsec]]{{\}}[[Julian year (astronomy)|yr]]}}

Changed:

| header60    = [[Proper orbital elements]]{{{p_orbit_ref|}}}
| label61     = {{longitem|Proper [[Semi-major and semi-minor axes|semi-major axis]]}}
|  data61     = {{#if:{{{p_semimajor|}}} |{{{p_semimajor}}}&nbsp;[[Astronomical unit|AU]]}}
| label62     = {{longitem|Proper [[Semi-major and semi-minor axes|semi-major axis]]}}
|  data62     = {{{p_semimajor_unitless|}}}
| label63     = {{longitem|Proper [[Orbital eccentricity|eccentricity]]}}
|  data63     = {{{p_eccentricity|}}}
| label64     = {{longitem|Proper [[Orbital inclination|inclination]]}}
|  data64     = {{{p_inclination|}}}
| label65     = {{longitem|Proper [[mean motion]]}}
|  data65     = {{#if:{{{p_mean_motion|}}} |{{{p_mean_motion}}}&nbsp;[[Degree (angle)|deg]]{{\}}[[Julian year (astronomy)|yr]]}}
| label66     = {{longitem|Proper [[orbital period]]}}
|  data66     = {{#if:{{{p_mean_motion|}}}|{{#expr:360/{{{p_mean_motion|1}}} round 5}} [[Julian year (astronomy)|yr]]<br />({{#expr:365.25*360/{{{p_mean_motion|1}}} round 3}} 
| label67     = {{longitem|Proper [[orbital period]]}}
|  data67     = {{{p_period_unitless|}}}
| label68     = {{longitem|Precession of [[Apsis|perihelion]]}}
|  data68     = {{#if:{{{perihelion_rate|}}}|{{{perihelion_rate}}}&nbsp;[[Arcsecond|arcsec]]{{\}}[[Julian year (astronomy)|yr]] }}
| label69     = {{longitem|[[Apsidal precession]] rate}}
|  data69     = {{{apsis_rate_unitless|}}}
| label70     = {{longitem|[[Apsidal precession]] period}}
|  data70     = {{{apsis_period_unitless|}}}
| label71     = {{longitem|Precession&nbsp;of the [[Longitude of the ascending node|ascending&nbsp;node]]}}
|  data71     = {{#if:{{{node_rate|}}}|{{{node_rate}}}&nbsp;[[Arcsecond|arcsec]]{{\}}[[Julian year (astronomy)|yr]]}}
| label72     = {{longitem|[[Nodal precession]] rate}}
|  data72     = {{{node_rate_unitless|}}}
| label73     = {{longitem|[[Nodal precession]] period}}
|  data73     = {{{node_period_unitless|}}}

Not done for now: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the {{Edit template-protected}} template. – Jonesey95 (talk) 13:27, 16 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]