A planet (from Ancient Greek ἀστὴρ πλανήτης (astēr planētēs), meaning "wandering star") is an astronomical object orbiting a star or stellar remnant that
is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity,
is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and
has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.
The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science, mythology, and religion. Several planets in the Solar System can be seen by naked eye. These planets were originally seen by many early cultures as divine, or as emissaries of deities. As scientific knowledge advanced, human perception of the planets changed, incorporating a number of disparate objects. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially adopted a resolution defining planets within the Solar System. This definition is controversial because it excludes many objects of planetary mass based on where or what they orbit. Although eight of the planetary bodies discovered before 1950 remain "planets" under the modern definition, some celestial bodies, such as Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Vesta (each an object in the Solar asteroid belt), and Pluto (the first trans-Neptunian object discovered), that were once considered planets by the scientific community are no longer viewed as such.
The planets were thought by Ptolemy to orbit Earth in deferent and epicycle motions. Although the idea that the planets orbited the Sun had been suggested many times, it was not until the 17th century that this view was supported by evidence from the first telescopic astronomical observations, performed by Galileo Galilei. By careful analysis of the observation data, Johannes Kepler found the planets' orbits were not circular but elliptical. As observational tools improved, astronomers saw that, like Earth, the planets rotated around tilted axes, and some shared such features as ice caps and seasons. Since the dawn of the Space Age, close observation by space probes has found that Earth and the other planets share characteristics such as volcanism, hurricanes, tectonics, and even hydrology.
Planets are generally divided into two main types: large low-density gas giants, and smaller rocky terrestrials. Under IAU definitions, there are eight planets in the Solar System. In order of increasing distance from the Sun, they are the four terrestrials, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, then the four gas giants, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Six of the planets are orbited by one or more natural satellites.
More than a thousand planets around other stars ("extrasolar planets" or "exoplanets") have been discovered in the Milky Way: as of 2 February 2015, 1888 known extrasolar planets in 1187 planetary systems (including 477 multiple planetary systems), ranging in size from Earth to gas giants larger than Jupiter. On December 20, 2011, the Kepler Space Telescope team reported the discovery of the first Earth-sized extrasolar planets, Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, orbiting a Sun-like star, Kepler-20. A 2012 study, analyzing gravitational microlensing data, estimates an average of at least 1.6 bound planets for every star in the Milky Way. Around one in five Sun-like[b] stars is thought to have an Earth-sized[c] planet in its habitable[d] zone.
(Wikipedia)
This diagram shows the approximate relative sizes of the terrestrial planets, from left to right: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Distances are not to scale.
A terrestrial planet is a planet that is primarily composed of silicate rocks. The term is derived from the Latin word for Earth, "Terra", so an alternate definition would be that these are planets which are, in some notable fashion, "Earth-like". Terrestrial planets are substantially different from gas giants, which might not have solid surfaces and are composed mostly of some combination of hydrogen, helium, and water existing in various physical states. Terrestrial planets all have roughly the same structure: a central metallic core, mostly iron, with a surrounding silicate mantle. Terrestrial planets have canyons, craters, mountains, volcanoes and secondary atmospheres.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
The Solar System:
(not to scale - actually very very far from the real scale - creating a scale image of the solar system with detailed representations of all its major bodies would not likely be feasible - see w:solar system model ) showing the Sun, Inner Planets, Asteroid Belt, Outer Planets, the largest object in the Kuiper Belt - Pluto (originally classified as a planet), and a comet.
Image source: commons.wikimedia.org
Solar System showing the plane of Earth's orbit around the Sun in 3D. Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are shown in both panels; the right panel also shows Jupiter making one full revolution with Saturn and Uranus making less than one full revolution.
Left: 3D view of the plane of the ecliptic (also known as the ecliptic plane) is the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun.
Right: plane of the ecliptic of the Earth's orbit around the Sun in 3d view showing Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars and Jupiter making one full revolution. Saturn and Uranus also appear in their own respective orbits around the Sun.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org Solar System
Image source: commons.wikimedia.org