2 (a) The Solar System

The solar system consist of the sun and planets revolving around it. And the planets in turn have satellites revolving around them.  In addition to this the solar system consist of asteroids and comets. So the solar is THE SUN and its family consisting of planets, satellites asteroids and comets.  Its called the solar system because the word solar means relating to the sun.  And since the sun is the center of most parts of the system it is called the SOLAR system.  Our planet Earth is among one of eight planets that revolve around the sun.  The planets in order of distance from the sun are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and until recently Pluto which in 2006 was declared NOT a planet. Comparing their mass it clear that Jupiter is the largest of all the planets and Mercury is the smallest in size.  Pluto is the furthest from the sun and Mercury is the nearest to the sun.  All the planets are revolving around the sun in different gravitational orbits.  In addition to these planets, there are small planets called planetoids or asteroid.  They also move around the sun and most of them are between Mars and Jupiter.