Astronomy › Section G · The solar system and Earth › Topic G.1
Overview of our planetary system
The Sun shares its space with eight planets, hundreds of moons and countless smaller bodies. Taking an inventory of them, and building a scale model in your head, is the first step to understanding how such a system works and where it came from.
In this topic
- A family around one star
- Where the mass is
- Orderly orbits and a few odd spins
- The terrestrial planets
- The giant planets
- Worked example: a one-metre Sun
- Moons and rings
- Small bodies and dwarf planets
- Worked example: weighing Jupiter against the rest
- Exploring by spacecraft
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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