Which term describes the collection of eight planets and their moons in orbit around the Sun, plus smaller bodies such as asteroids, meteoroids, and comets?

Which term describes the collection of eight planets and their moons in orbit around the Sun, plus smaller bodies such as asteroids, meteoroids, and comets?

• A. Solar System
• B. Galaxy
• C. Planetary Ring
• D. Asteroid Belt

Answer: (A)

The Solar System is the Sun and everything gravitationally bound to it, including the eight planets and their moons, along with smaller bodies such as asteroids, meteoroids, and comets. This description matches the system formed by the Sun’s gravity that holds all those objects in orbit. A galaxy, by contrast, is a vast assembly of stars, gas, dust, and dark matter—much larger in scale than our solar neighborhood. A planetary ring is a disk of material orbiting a planet, like Saturn’s rings, not a collection of planets and their moons. An asteroid belt is a specific region between Mars and Jupiter filled with rocky bodies, not the whole system around the Sun. So the term that fits is the Solar System.

The Solar System is the Sun and everything gravitationally bound to it, including the eight planets and their moons, along with smaller bodies such as asteroids, meteoroids, and comets. This description matches the system formed by the Sun’s gravity that holds all those objects in orbit.

A galaxy, by contrast, is a vast assembly of stars, gas, dust, and dark matter—much larger in scale than our solar neighborhood. A planetary ring is a disk of material orbiting a planet, like Saturn’s rings, not a collection of planets and their moons. An asteroid belt is a specific region between Mars and Jupiter filled with rocky bodies, not the whole system around the Sun.

So the term that fits is the Solar System.