Solar System Overview

Our solar system centers around the sun with the planets orbiting in elliptical patterns along roughly the same plane in space.

Here is a diagram of the major things in our solar system and their orbits around the sun.

I thought this artist's rendition of the formation of the solar system was quite interesting.
It looks quite violent!

The classical planets, in oder from the Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
(This diagram also shows Pluto, which has since been re-classified as a Dwarf Planet).