Our Solar System

The solar system is the Sun and all the different objects that orbit around it. These objects include the eight planets, their moons and asteroids and comets.

Circling The Sun :

The Sun is a star - which means it is a huge, spinning ball of hot gas. It is the only star in our solar system and it provides light and heat to the planets. The Sun's gravity is the force that holds the solar system in place and keeps the planets traveling around the Sun.

The Planets :

Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are the four planets closest to the Sun. They are rocky planets with a metal core. The next four planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are gas planets.

They have rocky cores covered by liquid or ice with layers of gas clouds on the outside. Moons are large rocky satellites that orbit a planet. Each planet has at least one moon, except for Mercury and Venus which don't have any.

Asteroids are pieces of rock that orbit the Sun. Most asteroids are grouped together in a belt between Mars and Jupiter. Comets are made of ice, dust and rock.

AMAZING FACTS about The Solar System :

The inner solar system is separated from the outer by the asteroid belt.

The solar system is port of the Milky Way galaxy which is a barred-spiral galaxy.

There were 9 planets in the Solar System until 2006 when the International Astronomical Union decided that Pluto could no longer be considered a plonet due to its size being smaller than our moon.

If all the planets were joined together, the Sun would still be more than 700 times bigger. It contains over 99% of the solar system's mass.

It takes two million years for gamma rays produced in the core of the Sun to reach its surface.

The Sun is the largest object the solar system. It is about 332 950 times more mossive than Earth.

The relationship between the Sun and the Earth drives the seasons, currents in the ocean, weather and climate.

The Sun has been burning for about five billion years and will bum for another five billion.

If you stood on Venus, the atmospheric pressure would be the same as if you were 900 metres underneath an ocean on Earth.

Much of the surface of Venus, including craters, has been covered in lava from previous eruptions.

Mercury and Venus are the only two planets in our solar system that don't have moons.

Mercury has the greatest variation in surface temperature of any planet in the solar system — can be over 600 degrees Celsius.

Because there is no wind or rain on the Moon, any footprints left by the astronauts should remain for millions of years.

It is thought that Earth was hit by a lorge object and the debris that was ejected into space joined together to form the Moon.

The official Latin name for planet Earth is Terra. It is named after the Roman goddess of fertility and growth - Terra Mater.

The Moon is the only other planet or satellite in the solar system that humans hove set foot upon.