What is our solar system / space?

Question

What is our solar system / space?

Answer 1

Our solar system is made up of the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. There are also 3 dwarf planets they are Ceres, Pluto and Eris. These orbit around the sun and they are kept in an elliptical orbit by the Suns gravitational pull.

Space is what this is all in. Space is very difficult to describe but here is the definition of it:

In space, no one can hear you scream. This is because there is no air in space – it is a vacuum. Sound waves cannot travel through a vacuum.

'Outer space' begins about 200 km above the Earth, where the shell of air around our planet disappears. With no air to scatter sunlight and produce a blue sky, space appears as a black blanket dotted with stars.

Space is usually regarded as being completely empty. But this is not true. The vast gaps between the stars and planets are filled with huge amounts of thinly spread gas and dust. Even the emptiest parts of space contain at least a few hundred atoms or molecules per cubic metre.

Space is also filled with many forms of radiation that are dangerous to astronauts. Much of this infrared and ultraviolet radiation comes from the Sun. High energy X-rays, gamma rays and cosmic rays – particles traveling close to the speed of light – arrive from distant star systems.

Answer 2

Our solar system is simply a collection of planets, comets, dwarf planets, etc. orbiting the Sun.

Space is mostly a vacuum, although it does contain very tiny amounts of dust and gases (mostly hydrogen).