The solar system is made up of our nearest star, the Sun, and everything that orbits or travels around it. This includes planets, moons, comets, asteroids, smaller rocks, and dust.
SUN
The Sun is a medium-sized star. The Sun's powerful force of gravity pulls on the planets, keeping them in orbit around it. The Sun is a kind of star that scientists call a yellow dwarf.
Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system. It's a little bigger than our moon. Closets planet to the Sun.
Radius
Length of Year
Distance From Sun
One Way Light Time to the Sun
Moons
2,439.7 km
88 Earth Days
46.639 million km
3.2 minutes
0
Spins slowly in the opposite direction from most planets. A thick atmosphere traps heat in a runaway greenhouse effect, making it the hottest planet in our solar system.
Radius
Length of Year
Distance From Sun
One Way Light Time to the Sun
Moons
6,051.8 km
225 days
107.7 million km
6.0 minutes
0
Earth is the only place we know so far inhabited by living things. It's also the only planet in our solar system with liquid water on the surface.
Radius
Length of Year
Distance From Sun
One Way Light Time to the Sun
Moons
6,371 km
365 days
149.7 million km
8.32 minutes
1
Mars is known as the "Red Planet." because its dusty surface contains rust. Many spacecraft have visited Mars to study its weather, surface, and rocks.
Radius
Length of Year
Distance From Sun
One Way Light Time to the Sun
Moons
3,389.5 km
687 days
218.58 million km
12.6 minutes
2
Jupiter is by far the largest planet in our solar system. It is made mostly of gas and has more than 60 moons orbiting it. Jupiter is so huge that all the other planets in the solar system could fit inside it.
Radius
Length of Year
Distance From Sun
One Way Light Time to the Sun
Moons
69,911 km
12 years
741.31 million km
35 to 52 minutes
79
It is adorned with a dazzling, complex system of icy rings. It is most famous for its rings.
Radius
Length of Year
Distance From Sun
One Way Light Time to the Sun
Moons
58,232 km
29 years
1.4726 billion km
79.3 minutes
62
Unlike the other planets, Uranus spins on its side. This might have been caused by a collision with an Earth-sized object.
Radius
Length of Year
Distance From Sun
One Way Light Time to the Sun
Moons
25,362 km
84 years
2.9437 billion km
159.6 minutes
27
Neptune is the farthest planet from the Sun, so it is freezing cold! If it were possible, it would take a jumbo jet about 400 years to fly from Earth to Neptune.
Radius
Length of Year
Distance From Sun
One Way Light Time to the Sun
Moons
24,622 km
165 years
4.4739 billion km
4.1 hours
14
Pluto is the largest dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt.
Radius
Length of Year
Distance From Sun
One Way Light Time to the Sun
Moons
1,188.3 km
248 years
3.7 billion miles
5 1/2 hours
5
Scientists think the asteroid belt contains the leftover rocks from when the planets were formed.
The Kuiper belt is a very distant part of the solar system. It is the home of icy dwarf planets and comets.
Our solar system is part of a galaxy called the Milky Way. It is spiral in shape and has more than 100 billion stars. Scientists think there is a huge black hole, sucking in dust, gas, and light, at its center.