What does «planeta terrestre» mean in Spanish?
- A terrestrial planet is an Earth-like planet consisting mainly of rock (as opposed to gas or ice). The other terrestrial planets in the Solar System are Mercury, Venus, Mars, and the dwarf planet Ceres. Outside the Solar System, Earth-like planets could harbor life as we know it. They will be in a temperature range between 50 and 450 degrees Kelvin. They will have a fair amount of water or methane (some think ammonia-based life is possible). Planetary scientists have constructed a graph of where an Earth-like planet might exist. On the Y-axis is the size of the star; the X-axis is the distance to the star. For a star the size of the Sun, the Earth-like orbital zone is just before Venus and just after Mars. Closer to Venus and the planet would be too hot. Farther than Mars and the planet would be too cold. If the star is smaller than the Sun, then this life zone is closer to the star; if the star is larger, then the zone moves a little farther away. If the star is less than 0.5 times the size of the Sun, or more than 3 times larger, there may be no life zone at all.