Terrestrial planet Terrestrial planet A terrestrial planet, telluric planet, or rocky planet is a planet that is composed primarily of silicate rocks or metals. Within the Solar System, the terrestrial planets are the inner planets closest to the Sun, i.e. Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. The terms "terrestrial planet" and "telluric planet" are derived from Latin words for Earth ("Terra" and "Tellus"), as these planets are, in terms of structure, "Earth-like". Terrestrial planets have a solid planetary surface, making them substantially different from the larger giant planets, which are composed mostly of some combination of hydrogen, helium, and water existing in various
Gustav Holst wrath. In 1912 Holst composed two psalm settings, in which he experimented with plainsong; the same year saw the enduringly popular "St Paul's Suite" (a "gay but retrogressive" piece according to Dickinson), and the failure of his large scale orchestral work "Phantastes". Holst conceived the idea of "The Planets" in 1913, partly as a result of his interest in astrology, and also from his determination, despite the failure of "Phantastes", to produce a large-scale orchestral work. The chosen format may have been influenced by Schoenberg's "Fünf Orchesterstücke", and shares something of the aesthetic, Matthews suggests, of Debussy's "Nocturnes" or "La