Our planetary system is located in an

outer spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy.

The Latest

New Planetary Protection Board to Review

Guidelines for Future Solar System and
Beyond Exploration

Our solar system consists of our star, the

Sun, and everything bound to it by gravity
— the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune,
dwarf planets such as Pluto, dozens of
moons and millions of asteroids, comets
and meteoroids. Beyond our own solar
system, we have discovered thousands of
planetary systems orbiting other stars in
the Milky Way.
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10 Need-to-Know Things About the Solar System
1
ONE OF BILLIONS
Our solar system is made up of a star,
eight planets and countless smaller
bodies such as dwarf planets, asteroids
and comets.
2
MEET ME IN THE ORION ARM
Our solar system orbits the center of the
Milky Way Galaxy at about 515,000 mph
(828,000 kph). We’re in one of the galaxy’s
four spiral arms.
3
A LONG WAY ROUND
It takes our solar system about 230 million
years to complete one orbit around the
galactic center.
4
SPIRALING THROUGH SPACE
There are three general kinds of galaxies:
elliptical, spiral and irregular. The Milky
Way is a spiral galaxy.
5
GOOD ATMOSPHERE(S)
Our solar system is a region of space. It
has no atmosphere. But it contains many
worlds—including Earth—with many kinds
of atmospheres.
6
MANY MOONS
The planets of our solar system—and even
some asteroids—hold more than 150
moons in their orbits.
7
RING WORLDS
 The four giant planets—and at least one
asteroid—have rings. None are as
spectacular as Saturn’s gorgeous rings.
8
LEAVING THE CRADLE
More than 300 robotic spacecraft have
explored destinations beyond Earth orbit,
including 24 astronauts who orbited the
moon.
9
LIFE AS WE KNOW IT
Our solar system is the only one known to
support life. So far, we only know of life on
Earth, but we’re looking for more
everywhere we can.
10
The Milky Way Galaxy

The band of the Milky Way galaxy can be seen at

night in areas with dark skies.
Our Sun (a star) and all the
planets around it are part of a
galaxy known as the Milky Way
Galaxy. A galaxy is a large group
of stars, gas, and dustbound
together by gravity. They come in
a variety of shapes and sizes.
The Milky Way is a large barred
spiral galaxy. All the stars we
see in the night sky are in our
own Milky Way Galaxy. Our
galaxy is called the Milky Way
because it appears as a milky
band of light in the sky when
you see it in a really dark area.
It is very difficult to count the
number of stars in the Milky Way
from our position inside the
galaxy. Our best estimates tell
us that the Milky Way is made up
of approximately 100 billion
stars. These stars form a
large disk whose diameter is
about 100,000 light years. Our
Solar System is about 25,000
light years away from the center
of our galaxy – we live in the
suburbs of our galaxy. Just as
the Earth goes around the Sun,
the Sun goes around the center
of the Milky Way. It takes 250
million years for our Sun and the
solar system to go all the way
around the center of the Milky
Way.