Our solar system is in the milky way galaxy.Scientist say that it was created four and a half billion years ago.A big cloud of dust and gases slowly flattened and became hot.This finally made a new star, our sun. There are eight main planets going around our sun.These planets and the sun together are called our solar system.The sun is in the center. It's so big it's 100 times heavier than all the planets together.
The closest planet to the sun is Mercury. In the day , it's very hot-about 400 degrees Celsius.At night,it's very cold-about minus 180 degrees Celsius.
Next us Venus.Venus is about the same size as earth. But its air is mostly made of carbon dioxide, a gas that keeps heat in. So Venus is always very hot.The temperature on Venus is nearly 500 degrees Celsius, so people cannot go there.
After Earth, there is Mars. It's called the red planet because the ground is covered with red dirt.Mars has the deepest canyon and the tallest mountain in the whole solar system.
Then there are a lot of asteroids.Most of them are less than two kilometers wide.
Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System,more than 1,300 times bigger than Earth.It has a stormy,red spot.This stormy area is twice as wide as Earth.
Saturn is next.It's the second largest planet.Its famous rings are made of ice.Similar to Jupiter,Saturn is made mostly of gas.
The seventh planet from the sun is Uranus.It has rings,too,and at least 27 moons!
Neptune,the eighth planet,is the windiest place in the Solar System. It's the last planet,but it's not the end of the Solar System.
After Neptune, there's Pluto. Scientists think Pluto is too small to be called a planet.Today, we call Pluto a dwarf planet.
Our Solar System is amazing, but there are many other suns and planets in our galaxy for scientists to focus on and study.And there are billion of galaxies out there!