Topic 5:

The Terrestrial Planets

Reading:

    Chaisson & McMillan, Chs. 7,8,9,10,13

We next consider the Terrestrial planets. We will concentrate on their:

We define a Terrestrial planet as an object density greater than 2.5 grams per cubic centimeter (cc) and a diameter greater than 2,000 kilometers. Our definition is loose and so the Terrestrial planets include the objects Mercury , Venus , Earth , the Moon , Mars , and the Galilean moons Io, and Europa.

Properties of the Terrestrial Planets

INTERIORS OF THE TERRESTRIAL PLANETS

We will first discuss the Earth and the Moon because these two objects should bracket the types of possible behavior (the Earth is the most massive Terrestrial planet and the Moon is about the least massive object) and because these two objects are the two most well-studied Terrestrials.

How do we learn things about the interiors of planets? This is an interesting question because we do not probe the deep interiors of planets directly, e.g., by drilling holes directly into them. At most,mines reach a kilometer or two beneath the surface of the Earth (the radius of the Earth is over 6,000 kilometers). Most everything we know has been learned through indirect means.

Probes of the Interiors of Planets