What Planet Is Cloestest to Earth?

Mars or Venus, right? GOTCHA its Mercury. Nearly always. Code below proves it. Deal with it.

Result

This plot gives the distance in astronomical units between the Earth and our nearest planets from 2010 to 2024.

Code

Use code below to generate this plot and above gif animation.

dist[planet_,d1_,d2_]:=PlanetData[planet,Table[EntityProperty["Planet","DistanceFromEarth",{"Date"->DateObject[date]}],{date,DateRange[d1,d2,"Week"]}]]
ts[planet_,d1_,d2_]:=TimeSeries[Transpose[{DateRange[d1,d2,"Week"],dist[planet,d1,d2]}]]

toplot = AssociationMap[ts[#,{2010,0,0},{2024,0,0}]&,{"Mercury","Venus","Mars"(*,"Jupiter","Saturn" *)}];

DateListPlot[toplot,PlotLegends->"Expressions",FrameLabel->Automatic,PlotStyle->{Purple,Orange,Red},Frame->True]

mer=(toplot[[1]]//Normal)[[;;,2]];
venus=(toplot[[2]]//Normal)[[;;,2]];
mars=(toplot[[3]]//Normal)[[;;,2]];
lengthslist = MapThread[{#1,#2,#3}&,{mer,venus,mars}];
closest=PositionSmallest[#]&/@lengthslist;
times =(toplot[[3]]//Normal)[[;;,1]];
lengths=Table[{lengthslist[[i,closest[[i]][[1]]]],closest[[i]][[1]]},{i,Range[Length[times]]}];

list = Flatten[#]&/@Transpose[{times,lengths}];
merclose = Select[list,#[[3]]==1&];
venusclose = Select[list,#[[3]]==2&];
marsclose = Select[list,#[[3]]==3&];

closest=Flatten[Join[{merclose[[;;,{1,2}]],venusclose[[;;,{1,2}]],marsclose[[;;,{1,2}]]}],1];
DateListPlot[closest,Joined->True];



DateListPlot[Append[toplot,{"Mercury Closest"->merclose[[;;,{1,2}]],"Venus Closest"->venusclose[[;;,{1,2}]],"Mars Closest"->marsclose[[;;,{1,2}]]}],PlotLegends->"Expressions",FrameLabel->Automatic,PlotStyle->{Blue,Red,Green},Frame->True,Filling->{4->Bottom,5->Bottom,6->Bottom},PlotRange->{{{2010,1,1},{2023,0,0}},{0,3}},Joined->{True,True,True,False,False,False},PlotMarkers->{None,None,None,None,None,None}]

mercurymap=GeoGraphics[GeoModel->Entity["Planet","Mercury"],GeoRange->All];
venusmap =GeoGraphics[GeoModel->Entity["Planet","Venus"],GeoRange->All];
earthmap =GeoGraphics[GeoModel->Entity["Planet","Earth"],GeoRange->All];
earthmap = GeoImage[{GeoPosition[{-70,180}],GeoPosition[{90,-180}]},GeoRangePadding->None,GeoProjection->"Mercator"];
marsmap =GeoGraphics[GeoModel->Entity["Planet","Mars"],GeoRange->All];

generatesphere[map_,size_]:=Module[{pic,width,height,w,h,sphere},
pic=map;
{width,height}=ImageDimensions[pic];
{w,h} = {35,40};
pic=ImageTake[pic,{h,height-h},{w,width-w}];
sphere=ParametricPlot3D[{Cos[u] Sin[v],Sin[u] Sin[v],Cos[v]},{u,0,2 Pi},{v,0,Pi},Mesh->None,PlotPoints->100,TextureCoordinateFunction->({#4,1-#5}&),Boxed->False,PlotStyle->Texture[Show[pic,ImageSize->1000]],Lighting->"Neutral",Axes->False,RotationAction->"Clip",ViewPoint->{-2.026774,2.07922,1.73753418},ImageSize->600];
Return[sphere];
]

planets = PlanetData[];
time = DateObject[];
planets=planets[[1;;4]]
n=1;
maxn = 356*10; 
plots = Table[0,{i,1,maxn,1}];
size =0.1;
planetpositions=QuantityMagnitude[ UnitConvert[PlanetData[#,EntityProperty["Planet","HelioCoordinates",{"Date"->time}]],"au"]]&/@ planets;
styledplanetspheres ={Scale[generatesphere[mercurymap,1][[1]],size*0.5],Scale[generatesphere[venusmap,1][[1]],size*2],Scale[generatesphere[earthmap,1][[1]],size*2],Scale[generatesphere[marsmap,1][[1]],size]};

locs = MapThread[Translate[#1,#2]&,{styledplanetspheres,planetpositions}];
paths = PlanetData[planets,"OrbitPath"];

Graphics3D[{locs,paths},PlotRange->{{-2,2},{-2,2},{-1/2,1/2}},Axes->False,Boxed->False,ImageSize->Large]