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Where are we in the universe? We live on Earth, the third planet of our solar system.
Our solar system is located in the Milky Way Galaxy, a collection of 200 billion stars
(together with their planetary systems). The Milky Way Galaxy is located in a group
of 30+ galaxies we call the Local Group. The Local Group is a part of a local
supercluster of 100+ galaxies (called the Virgo Supercluster). This supercluster is one
of millions of superclusters in the universe.
The Planets
The nine planets that orbit the sun are (in order from the
Sun): Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter (the biggest planet in our Solar
System), Saturn (with large, orbiting rings), Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (a dwarf
planet or plutoid). A belt of asteroids (minor planets made of rock and metal) orbits
between Mars and Jupiter. These objects all orbit the sun in roughly circular orbits that
lie in the same plane, the ecliptic (Pluto is an exception; this dwarf planet has an
elliptical orbit tilted over 17 from the ecliptic).
The inner planets (those planets that orbit close to the Sun) are quite different from the
outer planets (those planets that
orbit far from the Sun).
The inner planets are:
Mercury, Venus, Earth,
and Mars. They are
relatively small,
composed mostly of rock, and have few or no
moons.
The outer planets include: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
and Neptune. They are mostly huge, mostly gaseous, ringed, and have many
moons (plus Pluto, which is a dwarf planet that has one large moon and two
small moons).
Small Bodies
There are other smaller object that orbit the Sun,
including asteroids, comets, meteoroids and dwarf planets.
Asteroids (also called minor planets) are rocky or metallic objects, most of
which orbit the Sun in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Comets are small, icy bodies that orbit the sun. They have very long tails.
Meteoroids are small bodies that travel through space. They are stony and/or
metallic and are smaller than asteroids. Most are very tiny.