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 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 much larger gas giants, which are composed mostly of some combination of hydrogen, helium, and water existing in various physical states.
Read more about Terrestrial Planet: Structure, Solar Terrestrial Planets, Extrasolar Terrestrial Planets, Types
Famous quotes containing the word planet:
“What I like, or one of the things I like, about motoring is the sense it gives one of lighting accidentally, like a voyager who touches another planet with the tip of his toe, upon scenes which would have gone on, have always gone on, will go on, unrecorded, save for this chance glimpse. Then it seems to me I am allowed to see the heart of the world uncovered for a moment.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)