The Solar System

The Solar system is made of the Sun, 8 planets, and 5 dwarf planets, as well as their 174 known moons, asteroids, comets, dust,and gas.  Everything orbits around the Sun, our nearest star (except for the moons, which revolve around the planets).  Most things travel in an orbit, which is an elliptical shape for the planets.  Our solar system is close to the edge of the milky way galaxy.

The asteroid belt is what separates the inner planets from the outer planets.  You can see it in picture B.  It is full of space junk, leftover gases, and, of coarse, asteroids.  Ceres, a dwarf planet, is located in the asteroid belt and is 950 km wide.

The Kuiper belt is outside the solar system, a bit past Neptune's orbit.  This belt consists of spheres of ice and rock, with some as big as Pluto!  Pluto is actually located in the Kuiper belt.  See in picture C. 

You can read about the planets, the Sun, and more in my other posts!