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Solar system


SOLAR SYSTEM


•           The Solar System is made up of all the planets that orbit our Sun.

•           In addition to planets, the Solar System also consists of moons, comets, asteroids, satellites of other planets, dust and gas.

•           All planets revolve around the sun in a fixed path called orbit.

 

How our Solar System Evolved?

•           Scientists believe that the Solar System evolved from a giant cloud of dust and gas.

•           They believe that this dust and gas began to collapse under the weight of its own gravity.

•           At the centre of the spinning giant cloud of dust and gas, a small star began to form.

•           This star grew larger and larger as it collected more and more of the dust and gas that collapsed into it.

•           Away from the centre of this mass where the star was forming, there were smaller clumps of dust and gas that were also collapsing.

•           The star in the centre eventually ignited forming our Sun, while the smaller clumps became the planets, moons, dwarf planets, comets, asteroids.

Figure 1: The solar system

•           In order of increasing distance from the sun, the eight planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

•           Pluto, which was earlier considered a planet, was placed in a separate category called 'dwarf planets' by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in August 2006.