Why is the Solar System Called That?
The universe is full of planetary systems with planets orbiting hosts stars, much like our own. Because we refer to anything connected to our star by the adjective “solar,” which comes from the Latin word “solis,” our planetary system is known as “the solar system.”
Our solar system is situated in the Milky Way galaxy’s outer spiral arm.
The Sun, our star, and everything gravitationally connected to it, including the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, dwarf planets like Pluto, dozens of moons, and millions of asteroids, comets, and meteoroids, make up our solar system.
We have found thousands of planetary systems orbiting other stars in the Milky Way in addition to our own solar system.