The Solar System

The Sun dominates the solar system, and astronomers define the system by the set of objects bound to it by gravity, from major planets to distant debris.

The inner solar system contains four rocky planets that orbit closest to the Sun and serve as the primary examples of solid-surface worlds.

The asteroid belt contains hundreds of thousands of rocky bodies, and astronomers track how some fragments leave their orbits and reach Earth as meteorites.

The outer solar system is dominated by gas giants and ice giants, with Jupiter and Saturn as the largest and Uranus and Neptune as smaller but still massive worlds.

Astronomers classify dwarf planets as bodies larger than asteroids but smaller than planets, and the video highlights key examples like Ceres and Pluto.

Astronomers use the Oort cloud to describe the distant reservoir of comets and to debate where the solar system’s gravitational domain effectively ends.

The video addresses viewers trying to grasp scale, placing the solar system among countless stellar systems in the galaxy.