Our Solar System is one of over 500 known Solar systems in the entire Milky Way Galaxy. The solar System came into being about 4.5 billion years ago, when a cloud of interstellar gas and dust collapsed resulting in a solar nebula, a swirling disk of material that collided to form the Solar System.

MILKY WAY GALAXY

The solar system is located in the Milky Way’s Orion star cluster. Only 15% of stars in the Galaxy host planetary systems and one of those stars is our own sun.

8 PLANETS

 Revolving around the Sun are the eight planets. The planets are divided into 2 categories based on their composition.

Terrestrial and Jovian

Terrestrial planets

Including Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars
·        Are primarily made of rocky material.
·         Their surfaces are solid.
·        They don’t have ring systems.
·        They have very few or no moons and they are relatively small.

MERCURY

The smallest and Closest to the Sun is Mercury, which has the shortest orbit in the Solar System at about 3 Earth months.

VENUS

 Venus is the hottest planet with temperatures of up to 867ﾟF do due to an atmosphere of carbon dioxide and extensive lava flows. Next to this world of fire is a world of water.

EARTH

The water systems on this planet helped create the only known environment if the universe capable of sustaining a life.

MARS

 The last of the terrestrial planets Mars might have also supported life about 3.7 billion Years ago when the planet had a watery surface and moist atmosphere.

JOVIAN PLANETS

Beyond the four terrestrial planets of the inner Solar System lay the Jovian planets of the outer Solar System. The Jovian planets include [gas giants Jupiter and Saturn] and [ice giants Uranus and Neptune]. The gas giants are predominantly made of helium and hydrogen and the ice giants also contain rock ice and a liquid mixture of water methane and ammonia.
·        All 4 Jovian planets have multiple moons,
·        support ring systems,
·        have no solid surface,
·        And are immense in size.

JUPITER

The largest Jovian is also the largest planet in the Solar System. Jupiter.

SATURN

Nearby is Saturn the solar system’s 2nd largest planet. Its signature rings are wide enough to fit between Earth and the moon but are fairly a kilometer thick.

URANUS

Past Saturn are the ice giants Uranus and Neptune, the slightly bigger of these ice giants Uranus is famous for rotating on its side.

NEPTUNE

Next to Uranus is Neptune, the outermost planet in the Solar System and also one of the coldest.

ASTEROID BELT

orbiting the terrestrial planets is the asteroid belt a flat disk of rocky objects full of remnants from the solar systems formation, from microscopic dust particles to the largest known object the dwarf planet Ceres.
LARGEST OBJECT: CERES
(ABOUT THE SAME SIZE AS TEXAS)
Another disk of space debris lies much further out and orbits the Jovian planets, the icy Kuiper belt.

KUIPER BELT

Apart from asteroids the Kuiper belt is also home to dwarf planets such as Pluto and is the birthplace of many comments. Beyond the Kuiper belt is the

                                                           OORT CLOUD

·        a vast spherical collection of icy debris,
·         it is considered the edge of the Solar System
 Since that is where the gravitational and physical influences of the Sun end.
Our Solar System’s particularly configuration of planets and other celestial objects, all revolving around a like giving star make it a special place to call home.