Our Solar System…

• 4 terrestrial planets… (M,V,E,M)• then a big asteroid belt…• 4 gas giant planets…

(J,S,U,N)• and Pluto, an ice dwarf.

… and here’s a rough idea of just how small we actually are…

…and how gigantically huge the sun is…

…The sun is about 110 times the diameter of the Earth…

… You could fit more than 1000,000 Earths inside it …

… and it’s more than 300,000 times the mass of the earth …

So what other objects do we find in our solar system…?

Moons – it is not just our planet

that has a moon. Many of the

other planets have numerous

moons, and some are even a

similar size to the Earth!

These are the four largest moons of Jupiter:

Io

Europa

Ganymede

and Callisto

So what other objects do we find in our solar system…?

Satellites – These serve a wide range of uses. They orbit

the planets, just like moons. We use satellites for

observation, weather and land monitoring, relaying

communication signals, carrying

Asteroids – These are

basically large-ish lumps of

rock. They are orbiting the

sun, but are too small to be

considered planets. Most

of them are in a big “belt”

between Mars and Jupiter.

telescopes like the Hubble Space

Telescope, and much more!

…and comets – basically big lumps of ice and dust.

Comets orbit the sun…

…and they move in massiveelliptical (oval) orbits…

…the tail of a comet can belonger than the distance from theEarth to the Sun…

…and in fact comets actually have two tails…

…which point in different directions…

…and what about beyond our solar system…?

…our galaxy is home to about 2

billion other stars..!

…and there are around a billion other galaxies besides ours…!