Part 7 (2/2)

1,870,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (1,842,364,532,019,704,433,497,536,945 tons)

In Chapter XI we shall explain the h the Sun and deterures will convey some notion of the importance and nature of the Sun, the stupendousobon whose rays our very existence depends Its apparent diree, 32', and would be hidden froht, like that of the full er held out at arth), represents, as we have seen, a real dimension that is colossal, _ie_, 1,383,000 kilo to the enormous distance that separates us from it This distance of 149,000,000 kilometers (93,000,000 miles) is sufficiently hard to appreciate Let us say that 11,640 terrestrial globes would be required to throw a bridge from here to the Sun, while 30 would suffice from the Earth to the Moon The Moon is 388 times nearer to us than the Sun Wethat a train,at constant speed of 1 kilometer (06214 mile) a minute, would take 149,000,000 minutes, that is to say 103,472 days, or 283 years, to cross the distance that separates us from thisob Given the normal duration of life, neither the travelers who set out for the Sun, nor their children, nor their grandchildren, would arrive there: only the seventh generation would reach the goal, and only the fourteenth could bring us back news of it

Children often cry for the Moon If one of these inquisitive little beings could stretch out its arers there, it would not feel the burn for one hundred and sixty-seven years (when it would no longer be an infant), for the nervous impulse of sensation can only be transers to the brain at a velocity of 28A cannon-ball would reach the Sun in ten years Light, that rapid arrow that flies through space at a velocity of 300,000 kiloht minutes seventeen seconds to traverse this distance

This brilliant Sun is not only sovereign of the Earth; he is also the head of a vast planetary system

The orbs that circle round the Sun are opaque bodies, spherical in shape, receiving their light and heat from the central star, on which they absolutely depend The na” stars If you observe the Heavens on a fine starry night, and are sufficiently acquainted with the principal stars of the Zodiac as described in a preceding chapter, you ure of sohtly modified by the te in its lunitude

If you watch this apparition for soard to the adjacent stars, you will observe that it changes its positionorbs, or _planets_, do not shi+ne with intrinsic light; they are illuminated by the Sun

The planets, in effect, are bodies as opaque as the Earth, traveling round the God of Day at a speed proportional to their distance They nuht principal orbs, and roups by which we nize them: the first comprises four planets, of relatively sroup, which are so voluer than the other four put together

In order of distance from the Sun, we first encounter:

MERCURY, VENUS, THE EARTH, AND MARS

These are the worlds that are nearest to the orb of day

The four following, and much more remote, are, still in order of distance:

JUPITER, SATURN, URanus, AND NEPTUNE

This second group is separated from the first by a vast space occupied by quite a little arest of which measures little more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) in diameter, and the smallest soroups represent the principal members of the solar fahters has her own children hile obeying the paternal influence of the fiery orb, are also obedient to the world that governs them

These secondary asters, or _satellites_, follow the planets in their course, and revolve round them in an ellipse, just as the others rotate round the Sun Every one knows the satellite of the Earth, the Moon All the other planets of our syste evenseveral Mars has two; Jupiter, five; Saturn, eight; Uranus, four; and Neptune, one (at least as yet discovered)

In order to realize the relations between these worlds, wethem in a little table:

Distance in Distance in Millions of Millions of Kilometers Miles

Mercury 57 35 Venus108 67 The Earth 149 93 Mars 226 140 Jupiter 775 481 Saturn 1,421 882 Uranus 2,831 1,755 Neptune 4,470 2,771

The Sun is at the center (or, , at the focus, for the planets describe an ellipse) of this system, and controls them

Neptune is thirty times farther from the Sun than the Earth These disparities of distance produce a vast difference in the periods of the planetary revolutions; for while the Earth revolves round the Sun in a year, Venus in 224 days, and Mercury in 88, Mars takes nearly 2 years to accomplish his journey, Jupiter 12 years, Saturn 29, Uranus 84, and Neptune 165

Even the planets and their moons do not represent the Sun's complete paternity There are further, in the solar republic, certain vagabond and irregular orbs that travel at a speed that is oftenthe Sun, not to be consumed therein, but, as it appears, to draw from its radiant source the provision of forces necessary for their perigrinations through space These are the _Coated orbit round the Sun, to which at ti excessively distant

And now to recapitulate our knowledge of the Solar Elobe of fire do to hiht principal, for round the central orb Other secondary orbs, the satellites, revolve round the planets, which keep them within the sphere of their attraction And lastly, the coular celestial bodies, track the whole extent of the great solar province To these ated coin to shooting stars, when they coeneral idea of our celestial family, and an appreciation of the potent focus that controls it, let us make direct acquaintance with the several members of which it is composed