our solar system

• Our solar system is a small part of the

  Milky Way galaxy
• Within our solar system there is one star, the Sun, plus the eight planets and the dwarf planets that orbit around the Sun. Natural satellites i.e. the moons that orbit planets, are also part of the solar system.
• The sun lies at the

  centre of our solar system, it is heliocentric.
• Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
• the larger planets are

  primarily gas
• Smaller planets are made of

  primarily rock
• All planets orbit the Sun on

  the same plane
• All planets

  rotate, just at different speeds
• Larger planets have rings, as

  their gravitational field is so strong it attracts debris
• at the start of a star's life cycle, the dust and gas drawn together by gravity causes fusion reactions