Terrestrial planet

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The terrestrial planets Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars in true colors, sizes to scale
A terrestrial planet, telluric planet or rocky planet is a planet that is composed primarily of
silicate rocks or metals. Within the Solar System, the terrestrial planets are the inner planets
closest to the Sun. The terms "terrestrial planet" and "telluric planet" are derived from Latin
words for Earth (Terra and Tellus), as these planets are, in terms of composition, "Earth-like".
Terrestrial planets have a solid planetary surface, making them substantially different from the
usually larger gas giants, which are composed mostly of some combination of hydrogen, helium,
and water existing in various physical states.

Contents

1 Structure
2 Solar terrestrial planets
o 2.1 Density trends
3 Extrasolar terrestrial planets
o 3.1 List of terrestrial exoplanets
o 3.2 Frequency
4 Types
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

Structure
All terrestrial planets have approximately the same type of structure: a central metallic core,
mostly iron, with a surrounding silicate mantle. The Moon is similar, but has a much smaller iron
core. Io and Europa are also satellites that have internal structures similar to that of terrestrial
planets. Terrestrial planets can have canyons, craters, mountains, volcanoes, and other surface
structures, depending on the presence of water and tectonic activity. Terrestrial planets possess
secondary atmospheres, generated through internal volcanism or comet impacts, in contrast to

the gas giants, whose atmospheres are primary, captured directly from the original solar
nebula.[1]

Solar terrestrial planets

Relative masses of the terrestrial planets of the Solar System, including the Moon
The Solar System has four terrestrial planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Only one
terrestrial planet, Earth, is known to have an active hydrosphere.
During the formation of the Solar System, there were probably many more "terrestrial"
planetesimals, but most merged with or were ejected by the four terrestrial planets.
Dwarf planets, like Ceres and Pluto, and other large asteroids are similar to terrestrial planets in
the fact that they do have a solid surface, but are, on average, composed of more icy materials
(Ceres and Pluto have a density of 2.1 g cm3, and Haumea's density is similar to Pallas's 2.8 g
cm3).

Density trends
The uncompressed density of a terrestrial planet is the average density its materials would have
at zero pressure. A greater uncompressed density indicates greater metal content. Uncompressed
density differs from the true average density because compression within planet cores increases
their density; the average density depends on planet size as well as composition.
Densities of the terrestrial planets
Density (g cm3)
Object
Semi-major axis (AU)
Mean Uncompressed
Mercury 5.4
5.3
0.39
Venus
5.2
4.4
0.72
Earth
5.5
4.4
1.0
Mars
3.9
3.8
1.5

The density of terrestrial planets trends towards lower values as the distance from the Sun
increases. The rocky minor planet Vesta orbiting outside of Mars is less dense than Mars still, at
3.4 g cm3.
It is unknown whether extrasolar terrestrial planets in general will also follow this trend.

Extrasolar terrestrial planets

See also: Super-Earth and List of nearest terrestrial exoplanet candidates
Most of the planets found outside the Solar System are gas giants, because they are more easily
detectable.[2][3][4] But since 2005, hundreds of potentially terrestrial extrasolar planets have been
found, with several being confirmed as terrestrial. Most of these are super-Earths, i.e. planets
with masses between Earth's and Neptune's; super-Earths may be gas planets or terrestrial,
depending on their mass and other parameters.
During the early 1990s, the first extrasolar planets were discovered orbiting the pulsar PSR
B1257+12, with masses of 0.02, 4.3, and 3.9 times that of Earth's, by pulsar timing.
When 51 Pegasi b, the first planet found around a star still undergoing fusion, was discovered,
many astronomers assumed it to be a gigantic terrestrial,[citation needed] because it was assumed no
gas giant could exist as close to its star (0.052 AU) as 51 Pegasi b did. It was later found to be a
gas giant.
In 2005, the first planets around main-sequence stars that may be terrestrial were found: Gliese
876 d, has a mass 7 to 9 times that of Earth and an orbital period of just two Earth days. It orbits
the red dwarf Gliese 876, 15 light years from Earth. OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb, about 5.5 times
the mass of Earth, orbits a star about 21,000 light years away in the constellation Scorpius. From
2007 to 2010, three (possibly four) potential terrestrial planets were found orbiting the red dwarf
Gliese 581. The smallest, Gliese 581 e, is only about 1.9 Earth mass,[5] but orbits very close to
the star. An ideal terrestrial planet would be 2 Earth masses with a 25-day orbital period around a
red dwarf.[6] Two others, Gliese 581 c and Gliese 581 d, as well as a disputed planet, Gliese 581
g, are more-massive super-Earths orbiting in or close to the habitable zone of the star, so they
could potentially be habitable, with Earth-like temperatures.
Another potentially habitable and terrestrial planet, HD 85512 b, was discovered in 2011; it has
at least 3.6 times the mass of Earth.[7] But the radius and composition of all these planets are
unknown.

Sizes of Kepler planet candidates based on 2,740 candidates orbiting 2,036 stars as of November
4, 2013 (NASA).
The first confirmed terrestrial exoplanet, Kepler-10b, was found in 2011 by the Kepler Mission,
specifically designed to discover Earth-like planets around other stars using the transit method.[8]
In the same year, the Kepler Space Observatory Mission team released a list of 1235 extrasolar
planet candidates, including six that are "Earth-size" or "super-Earth-size" (i.e. they have a radius
less than 2 Earth radii)[9] and in the habitable zone.[10] Since then, Kepler has discovered
hundreds of planets ranging from Moon-sized to super-Earths, with many more candidates in this
size range (see image).

List of terrestrial exoplanets

The following exoplanets have a density of at least 5 g/cm3 and a mass below Neptune's and are
thus very likely terrestrial:
Kepler-10b, Kepler-20b, Kepler-36b, Kepler-48b, Kepler-78b, Kepler-89b, Kepler-97b, Kepler99b, Kepler-131b.
The Neptune-mass planet Kepler-10c also has a density >5 g/cm3 and is thus very likely
terrestrial.

Frequency
In 2013, astronomers reported, based on Kepler space mission data, that there could be as many
as 40 billion Earth- and super-Earth-sized planets orbiting in the habitable zones of Sun-like stars
and red dwarfs within the Milky Way Galaxy.[11][12][13] 11 billion of these estimated planets may
be orbiting Sun-like stars.[14] The nearest such planet may be 12 light-years away, according to
the scientists.[11][12] However, this does not give estimates for the number of extrasolar terrestrial
planets, because there are planets as small as Earth that have been shown to be gas planets (see
KOI-314c).[15]

Types

Artist's impression of a carbon planet

Several possible classifications for terrestrial planets have been proposed:[16]
Silicate planet
The standard type of terrestrial planet seen in the Solar System, made primarily of
silicon-based rocky mantle with a metallic (iron) core.
Iron planet
A theoretical type of terrestrial planet that consists almost entirely of iron and therefore
has a greater density and a smaller radius than other terrestrial planets of comparable
mass. Mercury in the Solar System has a metallic core equal to 6070% of its planetary
mass. Iron planets are believed to form in the high-temperature regions close to a star,
like Mercury, and if the protoplanetary disk is rich in iron.
Coreless planet
A theoretical type of terrestrial planet that consists of silicate rock but has no metallic
core, i.e. the opposite of an iron planet. Although the Solar System contains no coreless
planets, chondrite asteroids and meteorites are common in the Solar System. Coreless
planets are believed to form farther from the star where volatile oxidizing material is
more common.
Carbon planet (also called "diamond planet")
A theoretical class of planets, composed of a metal core surrounded by primarily carbonbased minerals. They may be considered a type of terrestrial planet if the metal content
dominates. The Solar System contains no carbon planets, but does have carbonaceous
asteroids.

See also

Earth analog
Gas giant also known as jovian or giant planets.
o Chthonian planet
Planetary habitability
Venus zone

References
1. Dr. James Schombert (2004). "Primary Atmospheres (Astronomy 121: Lecture 14
Terrestrial Planet Atmospheres)". Department of Physics University of Oregon. Retrieved
22 December 2009.
2. Carole Haswell, Transiting Exoplanets
3. Michael Perryman, The Exoplanet Handbook
4. Sara Seager, Exoplanets
5. "Lightest exoplanet yet discovered". ESO (ESO 15/09 Science Release). 21 April 2009.
Retrieved 15 July 2009.
6. M. Mayor, X. Bonfils, T. Forveille, X. Delfosse, S. Udry, J.-L. Bertaux, H. Beust, F.
Bouchy, C. Lovis, F. Pepe, C. Perrier, D. Queloz, N. C. Santos (2009). "The HARPS
search for southern extra-solar planets,XVIII. An Earth-mass planet in the GJ 581
planetary system". arXiv:0906.2780 [astro-ph].
7. Kaufman, Rachel (30 August 2011). "New Planet May Be Among Most Earthlike
Weather Permitting, Alien world could host liquid water if it has 50 percent cloud cover,
study says". National Geographic News. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
8. http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-17454005
9. Namely: KOI 326.01 [Rp=0.85], KOI 701.03 [Rp=1.73], KOI 268.01 [Rp=1.75], KOI
1026.01 [Rp=1.77], KOI 854.01 [Rp=1.91], KOI 70.03 [Rp=1.96] Table 6). A more
recent study found that one of these candidates (KOI 326.01) is in fact much larger and
hotter than first reported. Grant, Andrew (8 March 2011). "Exclusive: "Most Earth-Like"
Exoplanet Gets Major DemotionIt Isnt Habitable". 80beats. Discover Magazine.
Retrieved 9 March 2011.
10. Borucki, William J.; Koch, David G; Basri, Gibor; Batalha, Natalie; Brown, Timothy M.;
et al. (1 February 2011). "Characteristics of planetary candidates observed by Kepler, II:
Analysis of the first four months of data" (PDF). arXiv. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
11. Overbye, Dennis (4 November 2013). "Far-Off Planets Like the Earth Dot the Galaxy".
New York Times. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
12. Petigura, Eric A.; Howard, Andrew W.; Marcy, Geoffrey W. (31 October 2013).
"Prevalence of Earth-size planets orbiting Sun-like stars". Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. arXiv:1311.6806.
Bibcode:2013PNAS..11019273P. doi:10.1073/pnas.1319909110. Retrieved 5 November
2013.
13. Staff (January 7, 2013). "17 Billion Earth-Size Alien Planets Inhabit Milky Way".
Space.com. Retrieved January 8, 2013.
14. Khan, Amina (4 November 2013). "Milky Way may host billions of Earth-size planets".
Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
15. http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2014-01
16. Naeye, Bob (24 September 2007). "Scientists Model a Cornucopia of Earth-sized
Planets". NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center. Retrieved 23 October 2013.

External links

SPACE.com: Q&A: The IAU's Proposed Planet Definition 16 August 2006

BBC News: Q&A New planets proposal Wednesday, 16 August 2006

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