The Solar System is made up of the Sun and all of the objects that orbit it, including eight planets and their natural satellites (such as our Moon); asteroids; comets; and other debris. All these objects travel around the Sun in a specific pattern, known as orbits. The four innermost planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars – are also known as the terrestrial or rocky planets because they have solid surfaces with relatively large amounts of rock and metal. Beyond these four lie the four giant outer planets – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune – which are composed mainly of gas. These planets have larger sizes than the inner planets but much lower densities.
Each of these planets is unique in terms of size, composition and temperature, among other characteristics. Jupiter is by far the largest planet in the Solar System with more than twice the mass of all other planets combined. Its swirling clouds are mainly composed of ammonia crystals with bands of sulfur dioxide blowing across its surface. Saturn’s famous rings are composed mostly of chunks of water ice along with dust particles. The upper atmosphere on Uranus is filled with hydrogen, helium and methane while Neptune’s clouds contain small amounts of nitrogen gas with trace amounts of ammonia and methane ice particles.
Apart from the planets there are several smaller bodies in our Solar System such as moons, asteroids, comets, meteors and even artificial satellites launched by humans to explore space further. All these objects revolve around each other as well as around their host star (the Sun) while some may travel between different systems entirely – like long-period comets that enter our system from afar after being flung away by powerful gravity forces originating from other stars billions of miles away.