 | The Sun The Sun, an average-sized, middle-aged star, formed almost 5 billion years ago from a cloud of gas and dust. |
 | Mercury Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, takes only 88 days to orbit the Sun. |
 | Venus The surface of Venus, the brightest object in the sky after the Sun and Moon, is covered with craters, mountains, volcanos, and lava plains. |
 | Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and takes 23 hours, 56 minutes to spin on its axis one time. |
 | The Moon The Moon, located 238,000 miles from Earth, has a temperature of 225° F during the day and drops down to –243° at night. |
 | Mars Rust in the soil creates the Red Planet's signature color. |
 | Jupiter Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system, with a diameter of 89,000 miles. |
 | Saturn Saturn, the sixth planet from the Sun, has a ring system made up of ice and rock particles, some as big as a minivan. |
 | Uranus Uranus, the third-largest planet in the solar system, has an average temperature of –350° F and does not have a solid surface. |
 | Neptune Neptune has 13 moons, the two largest are Triton and Nereid. |
.jpg&w=120&h=120) | Pluto Pluto, reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006, is located nearly 40 times as far from the Sun as Earth. |
 | Asteroids Asteroids, chunks of rock and metal that orbit the Sun, sometimes collide with the Earth. This is one possible explanation for the extinction of dinosaurs. |
 | Comets Comets, thought to be leftovers of the early solar system, are made of dust, rocks, organic compounds, and ice. |
