1.22: The Solar System
- Page ID
- 9731
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The Solar System
The Solar System is the system containing the Sun and the bodies held in its gravitational field, including the planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune), planetary moons, the asteroids, comets, and other interstellar bodies and matter (Figure 1.55).
Most planets and planet systems (planets with orbiting moons) orbit the Sun in the ecliptic plane—an imaginary plain containing the Earth's and other planets' orbit around the Sun.
Figure 1.55. Our Solar System originated from gas, dust, and other matter that gravity pulled together in a stellar nebula about 5 billion years ago.