Which of the rocky planets in the solar system have solid surfaces?

Answer 1

More complete answer: The Asteroid Belt is considered the dividing line between the Inner (rocky) Planets and the Outer Planets. Ceres has a rock surface, is in equilibrium shape in the presence of gravity (fancy way of saying it's a ball), but it does not "dominate" its orbit, so it is not considered to be a planet.

Jupiter and Saturn are Gas Giants, and while there must be some "rock" ("metal" in in the sense of something heavier than hydrogen at the atomic level) from in-falling meteors if nothing else, it amounts to pollution in their atmospheres, not solid surfaces. Current thinking is that there isn't anything that could be called a "surface" as one approaches their cores.

Uranus and Neptune are Ice Giants. They probably have rocky cores overlain by thick ice mantles, not rocky surfaces. The key word is "probably" because the data are so sparse that we're left speculating without sufficient facts. Sherlock Holmes would be quite rightly appalled by all this.

And the Plutoids (Pluto, Eris, Sedna, and their ilk in the Kuiper belt) do not "dominate" their orbits and thus, like Ceres, are not considered to be planets (darned big doorstops if you ask me). I must point out that, had the "Planet X" hypothesis that led Clyde Tombaugh to find Pluto been true (it called for a planet three times the mass of Saturn), that world would fail the current planet definition on the same basis. The Kuiper belt is just too big for any conceivable world to "dominate" its orbit.

Disclaimer: Occasional factual, grammatical, or spelling variations are inherent to this document and should not be considered as defects as they enhance the individuality and character of this product.

Answer 2

Mars, Mercury, Earth, and Venus all have rocky surfaces.

Answer 3

Terrestrial Planet

Answer 4

The inner planet that has the most rocky surface is Mars.

Answer 5

There are none, if you're not calling Pluto a planet.

Answer 6

They all do, each of the four inner rocky (terrestrial planets) have a solid surface, unlike the four outer gas planets which don't have a clearly defined surface.

Answer 7

all inner planets

Answer 8

Pluto.

Answer 9

pluto