Our Solar System Planets A planet is a large ball of rock or gas that revolves around a central star. The Earth, the planet we live on, is the only known planet to contain life. The central star that the Earth orbits is the Sun. In all, there are eight planets orbiting the Sun.
Venus Mercury
Mars Earth
Jupiter
These planets, their moons and other objects orbiting the Sun make up our solar system. In order of their distance from the Sun, the four closest planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. These planets are called the inner planets. They are made up mostly of rock. Due to their close distance to the Sun, the inner planets are also much warmer than the planets further from the Sun.
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