Whirlwind tour of the Solar System

• Sun orbited by eight major planets, lots of other things.
• The ``sizes'' of the orbits (technically the semi-major axes) range from 0.384 au (Mercury) to 30.06 au (Neptune).
• Sky and Telescope map of the Solar System right now. Earth rotates in counterclockwise sense. Sun also rotates in counterclockwise sense. This isn't a coincidence; it's telling something about the origin of the Solar System!
• Four inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, all similar. The Terrestrial planets. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune also similar, termed Jovian planets.
  Diagram with relative sizes of planets.
• The plane of the ecliptic. All major planets orbit in close to the same plane, which nearly coincides with the equator of the Sun. Fossils in the sky.