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Comparative planetology is the name given to an approach to studying the planets in their families. This approach is based on the idea that the individual planets can be better understood by comparing the physical processes of all the planets. These comparisons yield important information and useful insights. For example, there are many similarities between the terrestrial planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, and likewise many similarities among the Jovian planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The Earth has changed significantly throughout history and will be forever changing because of various factors such as volcanism, erosion, tectonics, and impact cratering. All terrestrial planets are layered, that is, they are composed of a core, mantle and a crust. Although we have never actually seen the deepest interiors of our planet, we do know what it is made of. Scientists have used five techniques to determine the composition of a planets core. One factor, the average density, is determined by using the overall size of a planet and Newton’s laws on orbital properties of satellites.
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