The Solar System

The Solar System is the astronomical name for the Sun and the collection of planets, comets and other objects moving around it.

The Earth moves around the Sun in an oval shaped, or "elliptical" orbit.

The other planets in the Solar System also move around the Sun in elliptical orbits.

The biggest objects that go around the Sun are called planets. Most of the planets have moons that orbit around them.

These are the eight planets, three dwarf planets moving around the Sun.

The terrestrial inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) are the four closest planets to the sun and all have rocky surface.

Between Mars and Jupiter is the asteroid belt and after that are the Gas Giants, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

They are all bigger than the Earth and are mostly made up of gas.

And there is another asteroid belt called the Kuiper belt. It contains many comets and asteroids and the dwarf planets Pluto, Ceres, and Eris.