Читать книгу The Circle of Knowledge: A Classified, Simplified, Visualized Book of Answers - Various - Страница 31

First in importance to us in this immense space filled with stars is what astronomers call the Solar System, so-called because the sun is its center. It contains the planets, eight in number, of which our earth is one. They have been named after the ancient deities; the two interior ones, Mercury and Venus, and the exterior ones, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune; the first three being smaller than our earth, and the remainder a great deal larger.

Mercury and Venus are known to be interior planets, that is, planets between us and the sun, because they appear to swing on either side of the sun. Mercury very seldom leaves the sun sufficiently to rise so early before the sun, or set so late after him, as to be visible. Venus, however, gets so far away as to be seen long after sunset or before sunrise, and is called the Evening or Morning star, accordingly.

Besides the planets there are other members of the system, namely, comets and falling stars, which will be mentioned again more fully hereafter. All these bodies form a sort of family, having the sun for their head. The illustrations and drawings on separate pages give a view of the entire system.

Comparative Size. The size of the planets, in general, increases with their distance from the sun. The four composing the first group are all comparatively small, the earth being the largest. Those of the second group are all of great size. Jupiter, the largest, is not less than 1,390 times as large as the earth; but as it is much less dense, the amount of matter it contains is only a trifle more than 337 times that of the earth. All the planets together equal but one seven-hundredth part of the mass of the sun.

The Satellites, except our moon, and the two satellites of Mars, belong wholly to the second group of planets. Jupiter has eight; Saturn eight and several revolving rings; Uranus has four, and possibly more; while Neptune, so far as known with certainty, has but one.