The Solar System

The solar system contains the Sun, planets and other objects such as comets.

The Sun, which forms part of our solar system, is the closes star to Earth. It takes just over eight minutes for light from the Sun to reach Earth.

The 8 planets in the solar system are:

1. Mercury

2. Venus

3. Earth

4. Mars

5. Jupiter

6. Saturn

7. Uranus

8. Neptune

This is the order of the planets, starting with the one closest to the Sun. So, Mercury is closest to the Sun.

An easy way to remember the order is:

My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming

Out of the eight planets, there are four rocky planets:

There are also four gas planets:

All of the planets orbit the Sun in a slightly elliptical orbit, which means they do not orbit the Sun in a perfect circle. The shape resembles a squashed circle.

Dwarf Planets

Pluto was initially listed as a planet, however, it was demoted to a dwarf planet. Many scientists believe there could be hundreds of dwarf planets in our solar system.

The gravitational field around planets is strong enough to pull in nearby objects. However, the gravitational fields of dwarf planets are weak, so they are unable to pull in nearby objects.