The Solar System we live in contains the Space station Sun, its eight orbiting planets and any other solar system astronomical bodies that are under its gravitational pull such as space comets and space asteroids.

Space Comets originate from the Oort Cloud and Kuiper Belt, beyond our solar system Neptune, while most space asteroids orbit in a region between Space galary Mars and Jupiter.

Solar system Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars – the four planets closest to the Sun – are called terrestrial planets or Space technology because they have solid rocky surfaces. Solar system Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are known as gas giants. Our solar system Pluto, a dwarf planet, has a solid surface but is much icier than the terrestrial solar planets.

Our Solar System is just one star system among many within the space station Milky Way galaxy. There are 300 billion stars in the space galary Milky Way and the nearest, Alpha Centauri, is 4.3 light years away. One light year is approximately 9,500 billion km, the distance travelled by light in one year.

There are around 100 billion space galaxies in our Universe. So far, no one has detected life outside our home station planet.