our solar system has a star (the Sun) at the centre, with a number of objects orbiting around it. These include nine planets (many of which have their own moons), asteroids and comets.
The picture below shows all nine planets of the solar system. The relative sizes are about correct and they are in the right order from the Sun, but their relative distances from the Sun are not to scale.
The Sun is huge. It contains 99.9% of all the mass in the solar system, which is why the pull of its gravity is able to keep all the planets in their orbits.
The Earth is the third planet from the Sun
None of the nine planets in our solar system orbits the Sun in a circle. They each orbit in a slightly different shape, called an ellipse - that's a squashed circular-shaped curve.
Here’s an orrery. It shows the movement of the planets around the Sun in our solar system.
Image credit: Thomas Jefferson Foundation/Edward Owen.
