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, Neptune , Uranus , Saturn , Jupiter , the Asteroid Belt , the Sun , Mercury , Venus , Earth and its Moon , and Mars . A Comet is also seen on the left.]] The Solar System or '''solar system''' consists of the s, their 165 known Moons ,1 three Dwarf Planet s ( Ceres , Pluto , and Eris and their four known moons), and billions of Small Bodies . This last category includes Asteroid s, Kuiper Belt objects, Comet s, Meteoroid s, and Interplanetary Dust . In broad terms, the charted regions of the Solar System consist of the Sun, four Terrestrial inner planets, an Asteroid Belt composed of small rocky bodies, four Gas Giant '''outer planets''', and a second belt, called the Kuiper Belt , composed of icy objects. Beyond the Kuiper belt lies the Scattered Disc , the Heliopause , and ultimately the hypothetical Oort Cloud . In order of their distances from the Sun, the planets are Mercury , Venus , Earth , Mars , Jupiter , Saturn , Uranus , and Neptune . Six of the eight planets are in turn orbited by Natural Satellite s, usually termed "moons" after Earth's Moon , and each of the outer planets is encircled by Planetary Ring s of dust and other particles. All the planets except Earth are named after gods and goddesses from Greco - Roman Mythology . The three dwarf planets are Pluto , the largest known Kuiper belt object; Ceres , the largest object in the asteroid belt; and Eris , which lies in the scattered disc. TERMINOLOGY See Also: Definition of planet Objects Orbit ing the Sun are divided into three classes: planets, dwarf planets, and small Solar System bodies. A Planet is any body in orbit around the Sun that a) has enough Mass to form itself into a Spherical shape and b) has Cleared Its Immediate Neighbourhood of all smaller objects. There are eight known planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. On August 24 2006 the International Astronomical Union Defined The Term "planet" for the first time, excluding Pluto and reclassifying it under the new category of Dwarf Planet along with Eris and Ceres .2 A dwarf planet is not required to clear its neighbourhood of other celestial bodies. Other objects that may become classified as dwarf planets are Sedna , Orcus , and Quaoar . From the time of its discovery in 1930 until 2006, Pluto was considered the Solar System's ninth planet. But in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, many objects similar to Pluto were discovered in the outer Solar System, most notably Eris, which is slightly larger than Pluto. The remainder of the objects in orbit around the Sun are Small Solar System Bodies (SSSBs).3 Natural Satellite s, or moons, are those objects in orbit around planets, dwarf planets and SSSBs, rather than the Sun itself. A planet's distance from the Sun varies in the course of its Year . Its closest approach to the Sun is called its Perihelion , while its farthest distance from the Sun is called its Aphelion . Astronomers usually measure distances within the Solar System in Astronomical Unit s (AU). One AU is the approximate distance between the Earth and the Sun, or roughly 149,598,000 Km (93,000,000 Mi ). Pluto is roughly 38 AU from the Sun while Jupiter lies at roughly 5.2 AU. One Light Year , the best known unit of interstellar distance, is roughly 63,240 AU. |
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