List of planet types

The following is a list of planet types by their mass, orbit, physical and chemical composition, or by another classification.

The IAU defines that a planet in the Solar System must orbit around the Sun, has enough mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium, and has "cleared its neighborhood". The working definition of an exoplanet is as follows:^[1]^[2]

Objects with true masses below the limiting mass for thermonuclear fusion of deuterium (currently calculated to be 13 Jupiter masses for objects of solar metallicity) that orbit stars, brown dwarfs or stellar remnants and that have a mass ratio with the central object below the L4/L5 instability (M/M_central < 2/(25+ $\sqrt 621$ )) are "planets" (no matter how they formed).

The minimum mass/size required for an extrasolar object to be considered a planet should be the same as that used in our Solar System.

Under the IAU definition, true or "major planets" can be distinguished from other planetary-mass objects (PMOs), such as dwarf planets and sub-brown dwarfs. Nonetheless, certain planet types have been applied to other planetary-mass objects; the Pluto–Charon system has been referred to as "double dwarf planets", for instance.

By mass regime

Planet type	Description	Example
Super-Jupiter	An astronomical object more massive than the planet Jupiter.	Kepler-1704b
Giant planet	A massive planet. They are most commonly composed primarily of 'gas' (hydrogen and helium) or 'ices' (volatiles such as water, methane, and ammonia), but may also be composed primarily of rock, which would make one a Mega Earth.^[3] Regardless of their bulk compositions, giant planets normally have thick atmospheres of hydrogen and helium.	Jupiter
Super-Neptune	A planet that is more massive than the planet Neptune. These planets are generally described as being around 5–7 times as large as Earth with estimated masses of 20–80 `M`_E;	TOI-2498b
Neptunian Planet	Planets of mass similar to Uranus or Neptune; smaller than the gas giants, but still much larger than Earth.	TOI-332b
Sub-Neptune	a planet with smaller radius than Neptune even though it may have a larger mass	HD 110067 (b,c,d,e,f and g)
Mini-Neptune	Also known as a gas dwarf or transitional planet. A planet up to 10 Earth masses, but less massive than Uranus and Neptune. Mini-Neptunes have thick hydrogen–helium atmospheres, probably with deep layers of ice, rock or liquid oceans (made of water, ammonia, a mixture of both, or heavier volatiles).	Kepler-138d
Mega-Earth	Proposed neologism for a massive terrestrial exoplanet that is at least ten times the mass of Earth	Kepler-10c
Super-Earth	An extrasolar planet with a mass higher than Earth's, but substantially below the mass of the Solar System's smaller gas giants Uranus and Neptune, which are 14.5 and 17.1 Earth masses respectively.	Kepler-10b
Sub-Earth	A classification of planets "substantially less massive" than Earth and Venus.	Mercury

By orbital regime

Planet type	Description
Circumbinary planet	An exoplanet that orbits two stars.
Double planet	Also known as a binary planet. Two planetary-mass objects orbiting each other.
Eccentric Jupiter	A gas giant that orbits its star in an eccentric orbit.
Exoplanet	A planet that does not orbit the Sun, but a different star, a stellar remnant, or a brown dwarf.
Extragalactic planet	An exoplanet outside the Milky Way.
Goldilocks planet	A planet with an orbit that falls within the star's habitable zone. The name derives from the fairy tale "Goldilocks and the Three Bears", in which a little girl chooses from sets of three items, ignoring the ones that are too extreme (large or small, hot or cold, etc.), and settling on the one in the middle, which is "just right".
Hot Jupiter	A class of extrasolar planets whose characteristics are similar to Jupiter, but that have high surface temperatures because they orbit very close—between approximately 0.015 and 0.5 AU (2.2×10^⁶ and 74.8×10^⁶ km)—to their parent stars, whereas Jupiter orbits its parent star (the Sun) at 5.2 AU (780×10^⁶ km), causing low surface temperatures.
Hot Neptune	An extrasolar planet in an orbit close to its star (normally less than one astronomical unit away), with a mass similar to that of Uranus or Neptune.
Inferior planets	Planets whose orbits lie within the orbit of Earth.^{[nb 1]}
Inner planet	A planet in the Solar System that have orbits smaller than the asteroid belt.^{[nb 2]}
Outer planet	A planet in the Solar System beyond the asteroid belt, and hence refers to the gas giants.
Pulsar planet	A planet that orbits a pulsar or a rapidly rotating neutron star.
Rogue planet	Also known as an interstellar planet. A planetary-mass object that orbits the galaxy directly.
Superior planets	Planets whose orbits lie outside the orbit of Earth.^{[nb 1]}
Trojan planet	A planet co-orbiting with another planet. The discovery of a pair of co-orbital exoplanets has been reported, but later retracted.^[4] One possibility for the habitable zone is a trojan planet of a gas giant close to its star.

By composition

Planet type	Description
Chthonian planet	An extrasolar planet that orbits close to its parent star. Most Chthonian planets are expected to be gas giants that had their atmospheres stripped away, leaving their cores.
Carbon planet	A theoretical terrestrial planet that could form if protoplanetary discs are carbon-rich and oxygen-poor.
Coreless planet	A theoretical planet that has undergone planetary differentiation but has no metallic core. Not to be confused with the Hollow Earth concept.
Desert planet	A terrestrial planet with an arid surface consistency similar to Earth's deserts. Mars is arguably an example of a desert planet.
Gas dwarf	A low-mass planet composed primarily of hydrogen and helium.
Gas giant	A massive planet composed primarily of hydrogen and helium.
Helium planet	A theoretical planet that may form via mass loss from a low-mass white dwarf. Helium planets are predicted to have roughly the same diameter as hydrogen–helium planets of the same mass.
Hycean planet	A hypothetical type of habitable planet described as a hot, water-covered planet with a hydrogen-rich atmosphere.
Ice giant	A giant planet composed mainly of 'ices'—volatile substances heavier than hydrogen and helium, such as water, methane, and ammonia—as opposed to 'gas' (hydrogen and helium).
Ice planet	A theoretical planet with an icy surface and consists of a global cryosphere.
Iron planet	A theoretical planet that consists primarily of an iron-rich core with little or no mantle.
Lava planet	A theoretical terrestrial planet with a surface mostly or entirely covered by molten lava.
Ocean planet	A theoretical planet which has a substantial fraction of its mass made of water.
Protoplanet	A large planetary embryo that originates within protoplanetary discs and has undergone internal melting to produce differentiated interiors. Protoplanets are believed to form out of kilometer-sized planetesimals that attract each other gravitationally and collide.
Puffy planet	A gas giant with a large radius and very low density which is similar to or lower than Saturn's.
Super-puff	A type of exoplanet with a mass only a few times larger than Earth's but with a radius larger than that of Neptune, giving it a very low mean density.
Silicate planet	A terrestrial planet that is composed primarily of silicate rocks. All four inner planets in the Solar System are silicon-based.
Terrestrial planet	Also known as a telluric planet or rocky planet. A planet that is composed primarily of carbonaceous or silicate rocks or metals.

Other types

Planet type	Description
Classical planets	The planets as known during classical antiquity: the Moon, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
Earth analog	A planet or even a superhabitable planet with conditions to be compared with those found on Earth.
Hypothetical planet	A planet or similar body whose existence is not proven, but is believed by some to exist.

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c The terms "inferior planet" and "superior planet" were originally used in the geocentric cosmology of Claudius Ptolemy to differentiate as 'inferior' those planets (Mercury and Venus) whose epicycle remained collinear with Earth and the Sun, compared to the 'superior' planets (Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) that did not.
^ The four inner or terrestrial planets have dense, rocky compositions, few or no moons, and no ring systems. They are composed largely of refractory minerals, such as the silicates, which form their crusts and mantles, and metals, such as iron and nickel, which form their cores. Three of the four inner planets (Venus, Earth and Mars) have atmospheres substantial enough to generate weather; all have impact craters and tectonic surface features, such as rift valleys and volcanoes. The term inner planet should not be confused with inferior planet, which designates those planets that are closer to the Sun than Earth is (i.e. Mercury and Venus).

References

^ "Official Working Definition of an Exoplanet". IAU position statement. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
^ Lecavelier des Etangs, A.; Lissauer, Jack J. (June 2022). "The IAU working definition of an exoplanet". New Astronomy Reviews. 94: 101641. arXiv:2203.09520. Bibcode:2022NewAR..9401641L. doi:10.1016/j.newar.2022.101641. S2CID 247065421.
^ "The Outer Planets: Giant Planets: What Are They, and Where Are They?". lasp.colorado.edu. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
^ "Two planets found sharing one orbit". New Scientist. 24 February 2011.

External links

[InferiorSuperior-4] The terms "inferior planet" and "superior planet" were originally used in the geocentric cosmology of Claudius Ptolemy to differentiate as 'inferior' those planets (Mercury and Venus) whose epicycle remained collinear with Earth and the Sun, compared to the 'superior' planets (Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) that did not.

[Inner-5] The four inner or terrestrial planets have dense, rocky compositions, few or no moons, and no ring systems. They are composed largely of refractory minerals, such as the silicates, which form their crusts and mantles, and metals, such as iron and nickel, which form their cores. Three of the four inner planets (Venus, Earth and Mars) have atmospheres substantial enough to generate weather; all have impact craters and tectonic surface features, such as rift valleys and volcanoes. The term inner planet should not be confused with inferior planet, which designates those planets that are closer to the Sun than Earth is (i.e. Mercury and Venus).

[1] "Official Working Definition of an Exoplanet". IAU position statement. Retrieved 29 November 2020.

[2] Lecavelier des Etangs, A.; Lissauer, Jack J. (June 2022). "The IAU working definition of an exoplanet". New Astronomy Reviews. 94: 101641. arXiv:2203.09520. Bibcode:2022NewAR..9401641L. doi:10.1016/j.newar.2022.101641. S2CID 247065421.

[3] "The Outer Planets: Giant Planets: What Are They, and Where Are They?". lasp.colorado.edu. Retrieved 2024-04-21.

[6] "Two planets found sharing one orbit". New Scientist. 24 February 2011.

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