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Terrestrial Planet




Earth's , Venus , Earth and Mars . At one time there were probably many more terrestrials, but most have been ejected from the solar system or otherwise destroyed. Only one terrestrial planet, Earth, is known to have an active Hydrosphere .

NASA is considering a proposed project called the Terrestrial Planet Finder , which will be capable of detecting terrestrial planets outside of our solar system (orbiting other stars).

On 10 August, 2005, an international team of astronomers spotted the signature of a cold planet designated OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb , about 5.5 times the mass of Earth, orbiting a star about 21,000 Light Year s away in the constellation Scorpius. The planet revealed its existence
through a technique known as Gravitational Microlensing , currently unique in its capability to detect cool planets with masses down to that of Earth. Prior to that, the smallest Extrasolar Planet discovered had been one of three known planets orbiting around the Red Dwarf Star Gliese 876d , 15 light years away. That planet has a mass between six and nine times that of earth and is almost certainly a terrestrial planet.

Theoretically, there are two types of terrestrial or rocky planets, one dominated by silicon compounds, as Earth is, and another dominated by carbon compounds, like Carbonaceous Chondrite asteroids. These are the Silicate Planets and Carbon Planets (or "diamond planets") respectively.


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