The Solar System Overview

Our Solar System consists of ~~Nine~~ Eight Planets that we Know of or recognize...
Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune [Why there are officially 8 planets now] Dwarf Planets Pluto (you're still a planet in my heart!) Ceres Eris And otherwise classified: Sedna Hypothetical Planets and other adventures *There's not "nothing" in between! - The Interplanetary Medium*

Inner Planets	The first four planets out from the sun are referred to as the Inner Planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. ...They are also known as the Terrestrial Planets
Inferior Planets	- The planets between Earth and the Sun are also known as the Inferior Planets

*Superior Planets*	- The planets farther out from the Sun than the Earth are also known as the Superior Planets
Outer Planets	From Jupiter outward, the planets are called the Outer Planets
Gas Giants	- The outer planets are called the Gas Giants
*Jovian Planets*	- The outer planets are also called the Jovian Planets after Jove, another name for Jupiter, by Jove!
Dwarf Planets	- Pluto is likely a part of the Kuiper Belt. - Ceres and Eris are currently the other "dwarf" planets.

Other Solar System Objects	Then, there are the Other Solar System Objects, such as Comets *The Oort cloud* *The Kuiper Belt* Asteroids Meteors Meteor Crater, AZ Dinosaur Killer? Evidence of Life from Mars? Impact Potential: Threats to Earth


Orbits
Ellipses	Planets orbit around the sun in ellipses.
*Aphelion and Perihelion...*	*The earth's orbit around the sun is not a perfect circle. We are closest to the sun (Perihelion) in January and furthest (Aphelion) in July.*
*Apogee and Perigee...*	*The moon's orbit around the earth isn't a circle either. On a monthly cycle the moon is closest at Perigee* and furthest at Apogee.**

	Aphelion is derived from the Greek words "apo" (away from) and "helios" (Sun), while perihelion includes the Greek word "peri" (near) - from Windows to the Universe, where you can see a nifty animation of an exaggerated elliptical orbit demonstrating this phenomenon.

Try out your own Solar System.....	Solar System Models


Other Solar System-related Topics...
Planetary Alignments ...	The Planetary Alignment of 5 May 2000 - Weren't we supposed to be destroyed????

Other Planets???	Hypothetical Planets **A Proposal that there are 12 planets in this Solar System**


Other Solar Systems???	**The Nine Planets ExtraSolar Page ("Extrasolar" meaning "solar" systems around other stars, that is, other Planetary Systems)**
Okay, now take this test. Read through the page above. Click on the links. Think about what you're seeing. Ask each other what you think about these things. This test is in 3 parts, to make the time required more convenient for you since this is an on-line format. Please do NOT go on until you have taken and passed this test! Solar System Test 1 (then part 2, then part 3) After you click "Submit" at the end of one section, you can click to go to the next part, or you can go back later. Here is the list of all tests and reviews.
	Related Pages on this Topic: The Sun - Earth - Moon System Eclipses Earth's Moon Strays and Orphans Comets The Oort cloud The Kuiper Belt Asteroids Meteors Meteor Crater, AZ Dinosaur Killer Life Evidence from Mars