The solar system

Why is it called the solar system?

• They are many planetary systems like our in the
universe , with planets orbiting a host star.
• Our planetary system is called “the solar system’’
because we use the word “solar’’ to describe
things related to our star , after the Latin word of
Sun, “solis’’.
•The sun is the center of our solar system
and the largest object in it.
Where is our system located and
its composition
• Our planetary system is located in an outer spiral
arm of the Milky Way galaxy.
• Our solar system consists of our star, the Sun,
and everything bound to it by gravity – the
planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune; dwarf planets such
as Pluto; dozens of moons; and millions of
asteroids, comets, and meteoroids.
Size and Distance
• Our solar system extends much farther than the eight planets that orbit
the Sun. The solar system also includes the Kuiper Belt that lies past
Neptune's orbit. This is a sparsely occupied ring of icy bodies, almost
all smaller than the most popular Kuiper Belt Object – dwarf planet 
Pluto.
Kuiper belt
SOME FACTS ABOUT THE
SOLAR SYTEM
 Earth is only small part of the solar system, although the earth is a
big place but within the solar system it is quite small.
It would take 1.3 million planets the size of earth to fill up the sun,
earth is a lot smaller than planets like Jupiter and saturn
 Formed 4.6 billion years ago.
 The Solar System was formed 4.6 billion years ago from a cloud of
gas and dust called the solar nebula. 
• A shock wave from a nearby supernova (big star) explosion probably
started it. 
• The Sun formed in the centre, and the planets formed around it.
 It is part of milk way
The solar system is part of the Milky Way, There are at least between
250 to 500 billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy – there might even be
more. That’s at least 30 times more stars in The Milky Way than there
are people on Earth.
There are over 700 known systems of planets orbiting stars.
Milk way
Planets have different
Temperatures
• The hottest planet is Venus with an average temperature of 460
degree Celsius and the coldest planets is Uranus with an average
temperature -220 degree Celsius. By comparison Earth’s average
temperature is 15 degree Celsius.
Origin of planets names
• All of the planets ,except the Earth ,were named after Greek and Roman gods
and goddesses. Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus and Mercury were given their
names thousands of years ago, the other planets were not discovered until
much later, after telescope were inverted.
• The tradition for naming the later discovered planets were similar as to those
used to those which were discovered early.
• Mercury was named after the Roman god of travel, Venus was named after
the Roman goddess of love and beauty, Mars was the Romans god of war,
Jupiter was the king of Romans gods and Saturn was the Romans god of
agriculture.
• Uranus was named after an ancient Greek king of gods, Neptune was roman
god of the sea, Pluto which is now classified as dwarf planet, was named after
the roman god of the underworld.
The solar system is a fascinating
subject and there is always more
to learn, keep exploring the
mysteries of space and the
universe.
…….END…….
References
Solarsystem.nasa.go

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