Guy's Elements of astronomy : and an abridgment of Keith's New treastise on the use of the globes . are all opaque, or dark bodies, moving in a regu-lar order round the sun, from west by south, to east,receiving their light from him, and shining by reflectinghis light. Some of the planets have attendants or satellitesmoving round them, as their centres, and with themround the sun. There is also another order, calledcometsy with blazing tails, which pursue very eccen-tric courses. The names of the planets are Mercury, Venus, theEarth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus or Herschel;with four smal
Guy's Elements of astronomy : and an abridgment of Keith's New treastise on the use of the globes . are all opaque, or dark bodies, moving in a regu-lar order round the sun, from west by south, to east,receiving their light from him, and shining by reflectinghis light. Some of the planets have attendants or satellitesmoving round them, as their centres, and with themround the sun. There is also another order, calledcometsy with blazing tails, which pursue very eccen-tric courses. The names of the planets are Mercury, Venus, theEarth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus or Herschel;with four smaller ones, called Asteroids, namely,Vesta, Ceres, PallaS, and Juno. Vesta, though the last discovered of the asteroids, rs, according tcsome authorities, nearer to Mars than either of the other liiree; but,according to others, Juno is placed the nearest. These are all called primaries ; and there are alsoeijrhteen satellites or moons, called secondaries. TheEarth has one; Jupiter, four; Saturn, seven; andUranus, six. No moons have hitherto been disco-vered to belong to the other planets. Fa^ I .. THE 5UN. O Correctly speaking, the satellites are planets, as well as those roundiviach ihey revolve; for pianet is derived from the Gr^jek worae>*»riJ, sigmtyiiig rovmgor wandering. THE SUN. The Sun is the source of light and heat, and the centre of our Solar or Planetary System. H?s f(?rm is nearly that of a sphere or globe. His diameter is about 883,210 miles, and his circumference 2,774,692 miles. According to some authorities the Sun*s diameter is 893,522 miles*For the definition ola ^^6e or sphere, see the Preliminary Dijiiiition*Chap. 1. The Sims diameter is equal to 112 diameters oi the earth. His distance from the earth is 95,000,000 of miles;and he is 1,400,000 times larger than our earth. TheSun was for ages, and till lately, thought to be a globeof real hre; but it is now supposed to be an opaquebody, surrounded by a luminous atmosphere. Though to the Sun our earth is in
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectastronomy, bookyear18
