1. Planet Closest to the Sun. The order of the planets from the Sun from nearest to the farthest is Mercury, Venus, earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn Uranus, and Neptune. [/caption]Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun, is a study in extremes and offers many surprises. Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. Mercury is the closest planet to our Sun, at just 58 million km (36 million miles) or 0.39 Astronomical Unit (AU) out. As such, it circles the sun faster than all the other planets, which is why Romans named it after their swift-footed messenger god. It's orbit is very eccentric (i.e. Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. The nearest planet to the Sun is Mercury. non-circular) and Mercury comes to within 46 million km from the Sun at it's closest point and 69.8 million km at it's furthest point.