OUR SUN	MERCURY	VENUS	EARTH	MARS
JUPITER	SATURN	URANUS	NEPTUNE	PLUTO

         The system comprising the SUN around which are the nine planets in elliptical orbits. Nearest the Sun is MERCURY, then VENUS, EARTH, MARS, JUPITER, SATURN, URANUS, NEPTUNE and PLUTO. In addition, there are numerous satellites, a few thousand asteroids, and millions of comets.

         The age of the solar system is put at 4.5 to 4.6 billion years, a figure determined by the radiometric dating (uraniun-lead) of iron meteorites. Iron meteorites are thought to be fragments of cores from early planets and thus representive of the early stages of the solar system.

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