These eight planets are grouped in many different ways. Two easy groupings are composition (what they are made up of) and size.

ROCKY PLANETS (Mercury- Venus - Earth- Mars)

The rocky planets are mostly made up of rock and metal. These planets are very heavy and move slowly. They have no rings and very few moons.

GAS PLANETS (Jupiter- Saturn - Uranus - Neptune)

The gas planets are mostly made up of gases (hydrogen and helium). These planets are light for their sizes (just like a big air balloon) and move quickly. They have rings and lots of moons.

Small Planets ( Mercury – Venus – Earth – Mars )

The small planets have diameters less than 1300km across

Giant Planets ( Jupiter – Saturn – Uranus – Neptune )

The Giant planets have diameters greater than 4800 km across

In our solar system, eight planets circle around our sun. The sun sits in the middle while the planets travel in circular paths (called orbits) around it. These planets circle in the same direction.

The solar system is made up of two parts.

The inner solar system contains Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars These planets are closets to the sun.

The outer solar system contains Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

The inner solar system is separated from the outer solar system by the Asteroid belt.

All eight planets orbit around the sun. Depending on the distance, some planets, circle the Sun faster than the others. We live in heliocentric system. This means that our solar system is centered around the sun.

The Sun is the star that shines in the sky during the day and gives the earth the heat and light.

Sunspots can be large as 50.000 km across. Scientist are still trying to explain what causes these sunspots.

Here is a picture of a solar eclipse. During a solar eclipse, the moon posses directly between the earth and the sun. When this happens, light from the sun is blocked off for a short time. A solar eclipse can cause completely darkness during the day time.