Terrestrial Planet

Basic Information

A Terrestrial Planet is a planet with a rocky crust. They can vary greatly in terms of size, composition, temperature, environment, magnetic field, and the presence or lack of water and life.

Examples in our Solar System

In our Solar System there are:

• Four terrestrial planets:
  • Mercury
  • Venus
  • Earth
  • Mars
• one terrestrial dwarf planet, Ceres. (see Terrestrial Dwarf Planet)
• several terrestrial moons, including:
  • our Moon
  • Two of the Galilean moons:
    • Io (moon)
    • Europa (moon)

See Also:

• Earth-like Planet
• Gliese 581
• Habitable World
• HabStar
• Pulsar Planet
• Super-Earth

Sources

Bibliography

1. Wikipedia

Game and Story Use

• In our Solar System, the Terrestrial Planets are located close to sun. Gas Giants are found beyond them, and Ice Giants out beyond the Snow Line.
  • The existence of Hot Jupiters shows that Planetary Systems don't have to be laid out that way. If Gas Giants can form so close in, then maybe terrestrial planets can form further out. Planets can also be knocked into different orbits by impact, or even knocked out of orbit to become a rogue planet.
• Some (but probably not all, at least not without sufficiently advanced science) planets may be Terraformed. Some might even be so earth-like they don't need it. These are prime real-estate for a space colony.
• Even lifeless terrestrial planets with no atmosphere might have something that makes them worth landing on. Metal and inorganic resources, for example.
  • A planet that appears lifeless at first glance might just have life of a different sort than we acknowledge. (See Hypothetical types of biochemistry)
  • Or they may have taken shelter beneath the surface, or left artifacts after an The End Of The World As We Know It scenario.