terrestrial planet

Any of the four planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, whose orbits are closest to the sun. Also called inner planet.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

in′ner plan′et

any of the four planets closest to the sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, or Mars.

[1950–55]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

terrestrial planet - a planet having a compact rocky surface like the Earth's; the four innermost planets in the solar system

major planet, planet - (astronomy) any of the nine large celestial bodies in the solar system that revolve around the sun and shine by reflected light; Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto in order of their proximity to the sun; viewed from the constellation Hercules, all the planets rotate around the sun in a counterclockwise direction

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References in periodicals archive

Studying 147 extrasolar planetary systems with giant planets (with the parameters of these systems taken from NASA's exoplanet archive), Georgakarakos and colleagues found that, in most cases, the presence of "giant neighbors" would reduce a terrestrial planet's chances to remain habitable, even when the terrestrial planet is on a stable orbit.

NYU Abu Dhabi, JPL Researchers Provide Fresh Insights Into How 'Giant' Planets Impact for Better or Worse

Terrestrial planet formation models indicate Earth went through a sequence of major growth phases: initially accretion of planetesimals, planetary embryos, over many tens of millions of years, then a giant impact by a large proto-planet that led to the formation of our Moon, followed by the late bombardment when giant asteroids several tens to hundreds of miles in size periodically hit ancient Earth, dwarfing the one that killed the dinosaurs only 65 million years ago.

Giant asteroids' 'smashing impact' helped evolution on Earth

The planet was the first terrestrial planet with an Earth-like orbit ever discovered in a binary star system, a common constellation of two stars orbiting each other.

Earth-like planet find expands possibility of life in universe: astronomers

Building a giant space telescope that can tell us--a terrestrial planet finder--requires merely the will to do it.

So many worlds, but is anybody home? Kepler's findings of Earth-like worlds furthers the motivation for SETI

Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere and surface features similar to the impact craters of the Moon and the volcanoes, valleys, deserts, and polar ice caps of Earth.

My brilliant brother led first race to reach the Red Planet; Mars landing would have excited Harold

Astronomers have detected "warm" dust around a number of nearby stars that is thought to signify terrestrial planet formation.

New life in space hope

LBT thus promises to be an important tool in NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder project, scheduled to launch in just over a decade.

Binocular telescope puts heavens in focus; telescope mimicking humans' two-eyed vision cuts glare from stars

Those stars will become the focus of the Terrestrial Planet Finder--a future NASA mission that will look around the stars for Earth-like planets.

Home away from home

But when Nasa's Terrestrial Planet Finder and the European Space Agency's Darwin telescopes are launched they could open a whole new treasure trove of planets - possibly including some like our own.

It's life Jim, but not as we know it - scientists studying Earthshine may shed light on other life-bearing worlds

Dr Guillem Anglada-Escude of Queen Mary University London, who led the 30-strong astronomy team, said: "Succeeding in the search for the nearest terrestrial planet beyond the solar system has been an experience of a lifetime.

Life on Proxima b? New planet is found four light years from Earth...and it may be habitable

An additional way for a terrestrial planet to achieve high amounts of heating would be to cover in a very thick ice shell, similar to an extreme "snowball Earth." and it was also found that some planets could move into a safer orbit about 10 to 100 times faster than previously expected.

Tidal friction could facilitate 'habitable situations' on distant 'Earth-sized planets': NASA