THE SOLAR SYSTEM

When we speak of the “solar system,” we mean our central Sun, and the various planets which revolve around it. The planets, beginning with the one nearest the Sun, and proceeding outwards into space, are: Mercury, Venus, The Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. Most of these planets have in turn, circling round them, smaller bodies of satellites; the Earth has but one—the Moon. Other planets have more than one. The planets vary greatly in size, as well as in their relative distances from the Sun. The following may help the reader to form a mental picture of their relative distances and sizes:

Imagine a large open common; on it place a globe 2 feet in diameter, by way of representing the Sun; Mercury will then be represented by a mustard seed at a distance of 82 feet; Venus by a pea at a distance of 142 feet; the Earth also by a pea, at a distance of 215 feet; Mars will be a small pepper corn, at a distance of 327 feet; the Minor Planets by grains of sand at distances varying from 500 to 600 feet; then a moderate sized orange ¼ of a mile distant from the central point will represent Jupiter; a small orange ⅖ths of a mile, Saturn; a full-sized cherry, ¾ths of a mile, Uranus; and lastly a plum, at 1¼ miles, Neptune,—the most distant planet yet known,—though some astronomers suspect there may exist another planet still further off, and hope one day to find it. (On the same scale, the nearest “fixed” star would be 7,500 miles distant).