THE SOLAR SYSTEM consists of a central star (the sun) and the bodies that orbit it.These bodies include nine planets and their 61 moons ;asteroids ,comets,and meteoroids.The solar system also contain interplanetary gas and dust.Most of the planets fall into two groups ;four small rocky planets near the sun (Mercury,Venus,Earth,Mars,) and four planets further out , the gas giants(Jupiter,Saturn,Uranus, and Neptune.)Pluto is the outermost planet , except when it passes briefly inside Neptune's orbit.Between the rocky planets and the gas giants is the asteroid belt , which contains thousands of chunks of rock orbiting the Sun.Most of the bodies in the Solar System move around he Sun in elliptical orbits located in a thin disc around the Sun's equator .All the planets orbit the sun in the same direction (anticlockwis