The Solar System

At the heart of our Solar System sits the Sun, a giant ball of hot gas. Around it, held by gravity, eight planets sweep along their orbits, each accompanied by moons, and joined by drifting asteroids and long-tailed comets.

The Sun and eight planets

In order from the Sun, the eight planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The Sun contains almost all of the mass in the Solar System, which is why everything orbits around it.

Rocky worlds and gas giants

• The four inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars) are smaller and made mostly of rock and metal.
• The four outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) are huge and made mostly of gas and ice — the gas giants.

Gravity, orbits and other objects

Every planet follows a curved path called an orbit. The Sun's gravity is the invisible pull that keeps each planet from flying off into space. Planets closer to the Sun orbit faster and take less time to complete a year.

The Solar System also holds many smaller bodies:

• Moons orbit planets, as our Moon orbits Earth.
• Asteroids are rocky lumps, many found in a belt between Mars and Jupiter.
• Comets are icy bodies that grow bright tails when they near the Sun.

🌙 In the Qur'an & Sunnah

The Qur'an describes the heavenly bodies as moving with order and precise measurement, something a scientist observing their calculable motion may find worth reflecting upon:

"The sun and the moon [move] by precise calculation (ḥusbān)." (Qur'an 55:5)

"...each in an orbit (falak) swimming." (Qur'an 21:33)

Two families of planet

The Sun holds almost all the mass in the Solar System, which is precisely why everything else orbits it. Moons, asteroids and long-tailed comets travel among the planets.