. The children's book of stars . o much bigger than that. So far aswe are concerned, it is improbable we shall everknow very much more about this little planet. But next we come to Venus, our beautifulbright neighbour, who approaches nearer to us thanany other heavenly body except the moon. Alas!when she is nearest, she like Mercury, turns herdark side toward us, coming in between us andthe sun, so that we cannot observe her at all. Everyone must have noticed Venus, howevercarelessly they have looked at the sky; but itis likely that far more people have seen her asan evening than a morning sta
. The children's book of stars . o much bigger than that. So far aswe are concerned, it is improbable we shall everknow very much more about this little planet. But next we come to Venus, our beautifulbright neighbour, who approaches nearer to us thanany other heavenly body except the moon. Alas!when she is nearest, she like Mercury, turns herdark side toward us, coming in between us andthe sun, so that we cannot observe her at all. Everyone must have noticed Venus, howevercarelessly they have looked at the sky; but itis likely that far more people have seen her asan evening than a morning star, for most peopleare in bed when the sun rises, and it is only beforesunrise or after sunset we can see Venus well. Sheis at her best from our point of view when sheseems to us to be furthest from the sun, for thenwe can study her best, and at these times she FOUR SMALL WORLDS 51 appears like a half or three-quarter moon, as weonly see a part of the side from which the sunlightis reflected. She shines like a little silver lamp,. DIFFERENT PHASES OF VENUS. excelling every other planet, even Jupiter, thelargest of all. If we look at her even with thenaked eye, we can see that she is elongated or drawnout, but her brilliance prevents us from seeing hershape exactly ; to do this we must use a telescope. 4—2 52 THE CHILDRENS BOOK OF STARS It is a curious fact that some planets shine muchmore brightly than others, without regard to theirsize—that is to say, the surface on which the sunsrays strike is of greater reflecting power in somethan in others. One of the brightest things inNature that we can imagine is a bank of snow insunlight; it is so dazzling that we have to look awayor wink hard at the sight; and the reflective powerof the surface of Venus is as dazzling as if she weremade of snow. This is probably because the lightstrikes on the upper surface of the clouds whichsurround her. In great contrast to this is thesurface of Mercury, which reflects as dully as amass of lead
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