United States California Alameda, CA Irvine, CA Menlo Park, CA Santa Clara, CA Temecula, CA Illinois Abbott Park, IL Chicago, IL North Chicago, IL New York State New York, NY Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA Texas Irving, TX Virginia Altavista, VA.
Planets orbit the Sun while moons orbit around planets. The amount of time required for a planet or moon to complete one orbit around another body is called an orbital period. On Earth, we call this orbital period a year. Our year is 365.256 days. On Mars it takes 686.98 days (Earth days, that is) to complete one orbit about the Sun--that's a long time to wait between birthdays!
How long does it take the earth to rotate on its axis? Quick Answer. A complete rotation of the earth on its axis takes approximately 23 hours, 56 minutes and four seconds with respect to the background stars. However, the sun returns to the same place in the sky (correcting for seasonal differences) every 24 hours.