ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the Solar System deals mainly with the planets, but the most dominant body in the Solar System is the Sun, which contains all but 0.1 per cent of the total mass. In addition to the comets and asteroids, there are many smaller bodies called meteors and meteorites present in the Solar System, whose origin is probably the break-up of larger bodies such as the asteroids and comets, caused by gravitational perturbations by the larger planets. Although the details of the formation of the Solar System are still quite uncertain, the broad picture of the process is generally accepted, that is, of gravitational collapse from the pre-solar nebula, an interstellar cloud composed mainly of gas and a little dust. Less is known about Pluto than any other planet, but what is known shows it to be anomalous in so many ways that it should be considered separately from the other bodies of the Solar System.
