The Sun, its nine planets and their satellites, the asteroids and the comets – together, these are the elements that comprise the Solar System. In this book we shall meet them in detail. We shall come to know their properties, their place in the Solar System, what they look like and how they compare with one another. We will learn what they are made of, when and how they were made. We will discover what the Solar System's various contents have endured since their fiery birth. And, lastly, we shall see what will happen to them – to the Solar System as a whole – in the far, distant future, billions of years from now, as the tired star we call the Sun passes into old age, and beyond. These and other issues are all part of a great story – the story of the Solar System.

Overview of the Solar System

What is the shape of the Solar System? Where are the various objects within it to be found, and how do they move in relation to each other? These are important questions. For, unless we can answer them as accurately as possible, we shall be doomed to failure in our treatment of an even more fundamental issue, dealt with in detail in this book: the origin of the Solar System. So perhaps it would be prudent to spend a little time putting together what we currently know about the Solar System of which we are all a part.

The first thing to establish is that the centre of our planetary system is solar territory.