Our Solar System
📋 What it is
The Sun and everything orbiting it — 8 planets, moons, asteroids, comets — make up our solar system.
🗣️ Coach says
Our solar system is the Sun plus its whole family: eight planets, their moons, dwarf planets, asteroids, and comets, all held in orbit by the Sun’s gravity. The four inner planets are small and rocky; the four outer ones are giant balls of gas and ice.
🧠 Memory hook
Sun in the middle → rocky planets close in, gas giants far out. Everything orbits the Sun.
😂 Giggle
Why did the sun go to school?
To get a little brighter!
😲 Whoa!
The Sun holds 99.8% of ALL the mass in the solar system — every planet, moon and asteroid combined is just the leftover 0.2%.
✅ Quick check: What keeps all the planets orbiting the Sun instead of flying off into space?
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
The Sun’s gravity — its huge mass pulls every planet into a curved orbit.
Gravity from the Sun’s enormous mass bends each planet’s path into an orbit.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Line up 8 objects on a table (biggest = Jupiter). Put the smallest rocky ones near a "Sun" and the giants far away.