Top 9 Interesting Facts about Terrestrial Planets

what is terrestrial planet

Contents

What planet is a terrestrial planet

A terrestrial planet means that a planet is composed primarily of silicate rocks and metals and can have any mass.

There are four terrestrial planets in our solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.

Terrestrial planets are usually the smaller and denser of the two types. Their mass ranges from about 0.1 to 10 Earths. They are often called “Solid Planets” because they’re made mostly of rock. Terrestrial planets do not have giant atmospheres, but some may have small amounts of gas between the surface and the outermost layer of rock.

what planet is a terrestrial planet
This artist’s concept shows what the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system may look like, based on available data about the planets’ diameters, masses and distances from the host star, as of February 2018. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

How many terrestrial planets are there in Milky Way 

Scientists estimate that there are probably going to be tens of billions of terrestrial planets in the Milky Way. They were able to make this estimate by using data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope, which monitored the brightness and duration of more than 150,000 stars near our Solar System.

There are an estimated 300 million potentially habitable planets in the Milky Way galaxy. It’s possible some of these planets actually reside on the edge of our solar system and are only 30 light-years away from us.

What is not a terrestrial planet?

By definition, terrestrial planets are similar to Earth in that they are very similar to the makeup of Earth’s surface. This is different than the gas or ice giants because they are not composed primarily of rock and metal but instead gases.

what is not a terrestrial planet

What is the difference between terrestrial planets and gas giants?

Terrestrial planets are much smaller than gas giants, and they are on the inside of the orbit. Gas giants are located outside of the orbit, and they have a lot more gravity.

Also, the terrestrial planets can have an atmosphere.

The largest terrestrial planet and jovian planet 

The most giant terrestrial planet and Jovian planets are Earth and Jupiter, respectively.

Earth is the third-largest planet in our solar system and is also the densest. It has a diameter of 12,742 km and a mass of 5.9736 x 10kg, making it about four times larger than Venus but almost three times smaller than Jupiter.

Jupiter is the fifth-largest planet in our solar system, with a diameter of 11,299 km, making it almost 12 times larger than Earth. It has a mass of 1.8986 x 10kg, which is about 318 times more than Earth’s mass.

the largest terrestrial planet and jovian planet are

Which terrestrial planet has the lowest density

Mercury has the lowest density among all terrestrial planets because it has no atmosphere to retain heat and keep water from escaping into space. Hence, it has lost most of its original crust and mantle through time.

The density of a planet is the ratio of its mass to its volume. It is calculated by dividing its mass by its volume. Density is a physical property that can be quantified in grams per cubic centimeter (g/cm³) or kilograms per cubic meter (kg/m³). The Earth’s density is about 5,500 kg/m³, which means that it would weigh about 5,500 times more if you could lift it up and place it on top of a desk instead of the desk being on top of it.

PlanetAverage Density (gm/cm3)Required Mass for 70 cm3 (gm)
Mercury5.4378.0
Venus5.2364.0
Earth5.5385.0
Mars3.9273.0
Jupiter1.391.0
Saturn0.749.0
Uranus1.391.0
Neptune1.6112.0
Planetary Densities
which terrestrial planet has the lowest density

Related Question

Is Neptune a terrestrial planet

Since Neptune is a gas giant, i.e., Jovian planet, it cannot be considered terrestrial. It is the eighth and farthest planet from the sun in our solar system.

Neptune has 14 known moons, the largest of which is Triton. It is so far from us that its diameter cannot be measured as seen from Earth. It has an atmosphere mainly composed of hydrogen and helium, a thick layer of methane ice on its surface, and a fluid outer core made up of molten rock.

What terrestrial planet has the biggest Moon

Earth is a terrestrial planet that has the largest Moon in comparison to planet size.

Some terrestrial planets have moons that are larger than our own. The Moon is responsible for Earth’s tides and its gravitational pull. It has a width of 3,474 km and the Earth is about 12,742 km in diameter, so the Moon is about 27% as wide as the Earth.

Why is Mars a terrestrial planet

Mars is a terrestrial planet because it has a solid surface.

What is the difference between a terrestrial planet and a Jovian planet?

As we know, terrestrial planets have a solid surface and can hold an atmosphere. You may see four planets in our solar system made of gas: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. These four planets are sometimes held to as “gas giants” or “Jovian planets.”

About The Author