Solar System

Eight planets in the Solar System
Four inner rocky planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) and
four outer gas planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune).
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• all the planets;
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  – except for Mercury and Venus, have at least one moon.
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  – altogether there are at least 288 moons* in the Solar System.

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(*Last checked: February 2024)

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• planets following nearly circular orbits around the Sun and they all lie in the same plane – known as the solar ecliptic.

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• inner and outer planets are separated by the Asteroid Belt – many thousands of asteroids; some of them are more than 600 miles in diameter.

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• Pluto used to be considered a planet, but in 2006 it became officially designated as a planetoid along with some Kuiper Belt objects.
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• Kuiper Belt
  – disc shaped region of space located 30 to 100 AU (Astronomical Unit) from our Sun.
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  – Kuiper Belt contains numerous orbiting objects ranging from 30 to 1,250 miles in diameter.

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• all long -period comets are though to come from the Oort Cloud surrounding the Solar System.
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