The solar system is a cosmic neighborhood teeming with a variety of celestial bodies, all bound together by the gravitational pull of the Sun, a medium-sized star at its center.

 It was formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of a region within a large molecular cloud most commonly found in the Milky Way galaxy. Over millions of years, the collapsing material formed a spinning disk, with the Sun coalescing at its center, growing hot and dense enough to initiate nuclear fusion.