Characteristics Of Terrestrial Planets

Within our solar system, exists a collection of eight planets, their moons, asteroids, meteoroids, and comets. These eight planets in our solar system are generally categorized into two types: terrestrial planets, and gas giants. The word terrestrial comes from the Latin word terra which means earth, land, or territory according to dictionary.com. From this, terrestrial planets literally means Earth-like rocky planets. This contrasts from gas giants, since gas giants are mostly composed of gases, as assumed from its name. Terrestrial planets are also known for their solid surfaces made out of rocks or metals with a massive metal core. Only four known planets fit this description in our solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Interestingly enough, these four terrestrial planets are the planets closest to the sun. Although these four planets are in the category …show more content…
All terrestrial planets have the same metallic core structure which mostly consists of iron. Along with a similar core, terrestrial planets also have similar characteristics in their surfaces. Terrestrial planets have things such as canyons, craters, mountains, and volcanos. From the paragraphs above, we see that each terrestrial planet have different types of atmosphere that impact different attributes about each planet, yet, they all have a commonality in a way where they all have secondary atmospheres. In conclusion, terrestrial planets is a very fascinating group of planets in our solar system. Each of the four terrestrial planets range in wide differences from their types of atmospheres to their characteristics and sizes. However, despite these differences there are still common bonds between terrestrial planets compared to other things in our solar system such as having a secondary atmosphere, to things on their