The solar system is the name given to the planetary system of which the Earth is a part. It comprises planets, moons, comets, meteors and asteroids which are all held together by the gravitational pull of a star, named either the Sun or Sol.
The solar system is believed to have formed from one nebula, the solar nebula. As gravity forced the nebula to condense it became more dense and pressure inside it increased, resulting in the creation of a proto-star, which began heating up to form the sun we see today. The proto-star would have been surrounded by interstellar dust and gases which began clumping together as a result of gravity. This process continued until, about 4.6 billion years ago, the clumps of rock and gas became much larger, and eventually gravity forced these irregular-shaped objects into the globular-shaped planets we see today. Many of the rocks did not become large enough to form planets and either remain today as asteroids, or they collided with the planets earlier in their history causing the large impact craters still visible the solar system.
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