The Solar System is made up of all the planets that orbit our Sun. In addition to planets, the Solar System also consists of moons, comets, asteroids, minor planets, dust and gas. The inner solar system contains the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. The main asteroid belt lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The planets of the outer solar system are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune (Pluto is now classified as a dwarf planet).
Everything in the Solar System orbits or revolves around the Sun. The Sun contains around 98% of all the material in the Solar System. The larger an object is, the more gravity it has. Because the Sun is so large, its powerful gravity attracts all the other objects in the Solar System towards it. At the same time, these objects, which are moving very rapidly, try to fly away from the Sun, outward into the emptiness of outer space.
The result of the planets trying to fly away, at the same time that the Sun is trying to pull them inward is that they become trapped half-way in between. Balanced between flying towards the Sun and escaping into space, they spend eternity orbiting around their parent star.
The Planets orbit in the same direction (counter-clockwise looking down from above the Sun’s North Pole); all but Venus, Uranus and Pluto also rotate in that same sense. Mercury has the fastest elliptical orbit,
48 km per second. It has the shortest revolution at 88 days. Pluto has an orbital speed of 5 km per second. It takes 248 years for Pluto to make one complete revolution.
The Solar System has eight planets, arranged in order of distance from closest to farthest from the sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. Mercury is the planet closest to the sun and it's also the smallest, only slightly larger than Earth's moon. It's a planet in the solar system named after the Roman gods. The 2nd Planet in the Solar System – Venus is the second planet from the Sun, Venus is the twin size of Earth. The surface has many different mountains and volcanoes.It is name after the roman god mercury , who was the fast flying messenger of the god. Earth is the third planet closest to the solar system, and the only planet with life. The fourth planet closest to the sun is Mars and the second smallest planet in the solar system. It is named after the roman god of war. The 5th planet in the Solar System – Jupiter is a gas giant. This is the largest planet in the system our sun. This is a planet named after the god of thunder and lightning. 6th Planet in the Solar System – Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun, Saturn is best known for its rings. It is name after roman god of agriculture. Uranus - the seventh planet in the Solar System has extremely strange and interesting features. Uranus is the first planet in the Solar System to be discovered using only a telescope. 8th planet in the Solar System – Neptune is the eighth planet from the sun, Neptune is about the same size as Uranus. It is name after the roman god of the sea
