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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77859 ***
+
+
+
+
+          [Illustration: _Eclipse of the Sun. Frontispiece._]
+
+
+
+
+                           THE STARRY SKIES:
+
+                                  OR,
+
+                    FIRST LESSONS ON THE SUN, MOON
+                              AND STARS.
+
+                                  BY
+                            AGNES GIBERNE,
+         AUTHOR OF “AMONG THE STARS,” “SUN, MOON, AND STARS,”
+                                 ETC.
+
+                            [Illustration]
+
+                       _AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY_,
+                     10 EAST 23D STREET, NEW YORK.
+
+
+
+
+                           COPYRIGHT, 1894,
+                        AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  CHAPTER I.
+  This Earth of Ours             PAGE      5
+
+  CHAPTER II.
+  Why Men Do Not Fall Off                 16
+
+  CHAPTER III.
+  By Day and by Night                     27
+
+  CHAPTER IV.
+  How the World Spins                     38
+
+  CHAPTER V.
+  The Moon by Night                       49
+
+  CHAPTER VI.
+  The Moon’s Changes                      61
+
+  CHAPTER VII.
+  The Moon through a Telescope            72
+
+  CHAPTER VIII.
+  The Sun by Day                          82
+
+  CHAPTER IX.
+  Storms on the Sun                       90
+
+  CHAPTER X.
+  How the World Journeys                 102
+
+  CHAPTER XI.
+  Other Worlds                           111
+
+  CHAPTER XII.
+  What is Meant by an Eclipse            124
+
+  CHAPTER XIII.
+  Mercury and Venus                      136
+
+  CHAPTER XIV.
+  The Planet Mars                        147
+
+  CHAPTER XV.
+  The Planet Jupiter                     158
+
+  CHAPTER XVI.
+  Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune            166
+
+  CHAPTER XVII.
+  Long-Tailed Comets                     175
+
+  CHAPTER XVIII.
+  Little Meteors                         184
+
+  CHAPTER XIX.
+  The Sun’s Kingdom                      191
+
+  CHAPTER XX.
+  A Starry Universe                      200
+
+  CHAPTER XXI.
+  Star-Groups                            209
+
+  CHAPTER XXII.
+  Giant-Suns and Clusters                217
+
+  CHAPTER XXIII.
+  How to Study the Sky                   226
+
+
+
+
+THE STARRY SKIES.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THIS EARTH OF OURS.
+
+
+Once upon a time--thus runs a certain tale--there was a man who wanted
+to see what could be found at the other end of the world.
+
+So he left his home behind him, and started off to explore. He had
+a toilsome journey. He wandered over wide plains; he climbed steep
+mountains; he forded dangerous rivers; he crossed stormy seas. Through
+weeks and months, and even years, he kept straight on, steadily on,
+patiently on, never turning to right or to left. And at last, what do
+you think he found?
+
+Was it a world of giants? Or a land of fairies? Or a dark ocean,
+without any further shore? Or a vast range of hills, reaching skyward?
+Or a profound depth, going downward?
+
+He certainly must have found _something_, because he came to the end of
+his journey and travelled no more. He had no need to travel any more.
+His task was done: the puzzle was found out; and he had arrived at
+“the other end of the world.”
+
+Only it was no “end” at all, but just the very same spot from which he
+had started. For he had actually found his way back to his own old home
+again.
+
+Don’t you think he must have been rather astonished? It was not at all
+what he had expected.
+
+Suppose that a spider, living in the middle of a very big plain, were
+to make up his mind to walk to the outside edge of that plain, and see
+what might chance to be there. And suppose that, having climbed little
+hillocks, and crossed little brooks, trying always to keep steadily in
+the same forward direction, he were to find himself all at once back on
+the very same spot from which he had first set forth!
+
+He would no doubt be a good deal surprised; and if he had sense to
+think the matter over he would see plainly that he had _not_ managed,
+after all, to keep going straight forward, but that he must somehow
+have turned round without knowing it and gone back to his starting
+point.
+
+The man in the story made no such mistake, however. He did not turn
+round. He went always on, and on, in exactly the same direction. Yet
+in the end he found himself at home! There is the curious part of the
+matter.
+
+If the world were a flat plain, like the top of a large round table,
+the man could not have done this. It would be out of the question.
+He might have turned round and walked back; he could not have walked
+steadily onward and onward, farther and farther away from his home,
+only to find himself suddenly there again. The thing would be
+impossible.
+
+Whether any living man ever took such a journey round the world is more
+than doubtful. But I can assure you of this: that if any man ever _did_
+take such a journey it would end just as that man’s journey is said to
+have ended. By keeping straight forward, always in one direction, and
+by going on long enough, he would in time get back to his own house
+again.
+
+How could he? That is the question. If a spider were to walk on for
+ever, straight across a flat plain, he would never get back to his
+starting-point.
+
+But the world on which we live is not a flat plain. For a long while
+men believed that it was; and they made a mistake.
+
+Let us think again of a spider--one of those tiny red spiders often
+found in a garden--and let us suppose this wee red spider to be
+standing on a huge round globe, as large as a house. Suppose that the
+spider, having very short sight, fancied himself to be on a flat table
+and resolved to take a walk to the further end, to see what he might
+find there.
+
+You and I, looking on, would know there was no _end_ to the globe: but
+the spider could not guess this. He would walk on and on, in a straight
+line, believing himself always to be on a flat surface. And if he
+contrived to keep a perfectly straight line all round the globe--not
+an easy thing to do--then, whichever direction he began to go in, the
+end would be the same: if he kept on long enough he would go round the
+whole huge ball, and would arrive again at the spot where first he had
+stood.
+
+If he did _not_ manage to keep quite a direct line, but zigzagged a
+little to right or left, he would not reach the same _spot_; though
+even then he would get back to the same _side_ of the globe as before.
+He would find no “end” to it, because a globe, properly speaking, has
+no “ends.”
+
+And this Earth, on which we live, is not flat, like a board or table,
+but round, like a globe or orange. It is really very like an orange;
+for an orange is not a perfect globe, but is a little flattened on its
+sides, or, as we commonly say, “at the ends.” Our Earth also is rather
+flat in shape at the north and south poles. A round globe, like an
+orange, or like the Earth, has really no “ends” at all: though we often
+use the word when speaking of the two poles.
+
+If you were to take such a journey, starting from your home, and
+keeping a perfectly straight line onwards always in one direction, you
+too would in time come back to the spot from which you started.
+
+But a journey of this kind would be very hard to manage: far more so
+than it sounds. Every little hillock, every little streamlet, every
+house and every tree, to say nothing of rivers and towns, mountains and
+oceans, would turn you out of your path. By the time you got round the
+world, although you would return to the same _side_ of the globe from
+which you first set out, you might be a long way off from the exact
+spot.
+
+In case you do not know where the two “poles” are, you should ask some
+one to show you on a school globe. The north pole and the south pole
+are both very cold parts of our Earth. Ice and snow are there all the
+year round.
+
+Half way between the north and the south poles is the equator--a line
+drawn exactly round the whole Earth: and all round the Earth, on or
+near the equator, are the very hottest countries. About half way
+between the north pole and the equator, and between the south pole and
+the equator, are the “temperate” parts of the Earth--not so very cold,
+or so very hot.
+
+If a man is travelling from near the north pole towards the equator,
+or from near the south pole towards the equator, he gets into warmer
+and warmer places.
+
+But if he is travelling from the equator towards the north pole, or
+from the equator towards the south pole, he gets into colder and colder
+places.
+
+The right name for a globe-shaped body, like an orange or like the
+Earth, is a “sphere.” Neither an orange nor the Earth is a _perfect_
+sphere, because both have flattened ends; still, the ends are only a
+little flattened, and we always speak of the Earth as a “sphere.”
+
+A “hemisphere” means a “half-sphere.” If our whole Earth were cut into
+two equal-sized pieces each of those pieces would be a “hemisphere.”
+
+We always think of the equator as dividing our Earth into two halves.
+The half towards the north is called “the northern hemisphere;” and the
+half towards the south is called “the southern hemisphere.”
+
+Since our Earth is said to be a round globe, like a ball, why do we
+not see over the edge? A fly, standing on an orange, would have, it
+is true, a rounded surface just under his feet; but he could take a
+good view downward over the edge. It would _look_ like an edge to him,
+though there is no edge really to a ball.
+
+If our world were as small as an orange, and we by comparison were each
+as large as a fly, then we should be able to do the same.
+
+But the Earth is huge in size: and we are very tiny--yes, exceedingly
+tiny, side by side with the great Earth! And the surface on which we
+stand curves away so very gently, so very gradually, that it looks like
+a flat surface to us--just as the large globe would have seemed flat to
+the wee red spider, only very much more so. For the difference in size
+between the Earth and a man is far greater than the difference between
+the globe and the spider.
+
+You may get some idea of how things are, by standing on the sea-shore,
+and gazing out to sea. Far away the sky and earth seem to meet in a
+long line, which we call “the horizon.” That line is always around you,
+on all sides, wherever you are, though often you cannot see it, because
+of hills or buildings or trees coming between.
+
+Beyond that line the rounded surface of the Earth _drops_ away, so that
+you can see it no more. It is, in fact, what looked like an _edge_,
+to the fly standing on the orange. To us it looks much more as if the
+ground slanted upwards to meet the sky. But there is no real upward
+slant. After a certain number of miles, the surface of the ground or
+the ocean dips downward, out of sight, and all else beyond that line
+is out of sight also.
+
+Put your eyes close down upon a large schoolroom globe. You will see at
+once how the solid ball hides from you part of the room. You can see
+the ceiling, and perhaps the window and the fireplace, but beyond the
+globe all is hidden. Your _horizon_, as you stand thus, is just where
+you seem to see a sort of edge to the globe, beyond which its rounded
+surface dips away, out of view.
+
+Looking upward into the sky we are able to see enormous
+distances--hundreds of miles, thousands of miles, millions of miles,
+billions of miles away! Light travels to earth from far, far distant
+stars: and we can perceive those feeble gleams because nothing comes
+between to hide them.
+
+On the Earth it is very different. Here we can commonly see only a few
+miles off. Not because our eyes are not strong enough: but because the
+Earth’s rounded surface soon dips away, and all beyond that dip is cut
+off from us by the solid body of the Earth.
+
+On a flat plain, or close to the surface of the sea, our view is very
+narrow. If we climb a hill we get a wider landscape, because we can
+see farther over the “dip,” and from a mountain-top the view is very
+greatly increased.
+
+[Illustration: _Sunset._]
+
+Still, no matter how high we go, the Earth’s surface always stretches
+away to north and south, to east and west. It always _seems_ to rise
+and meet the sky, making our horizon-line.
+
+If we could get very, very far off indeed, into the sky, we should
+then see our Earth floating, like an enormous ball--a huge round solid
+globe. But this we are never able to do. We know our Earth to be a
+round ball: but we cannot stand apart and see her to be such.
+
+Did you ever notice a ship “hull-down” on the horizon?--that is, with
+its masts standing up above the horizon, and its body hidden?
+
+This again was caused by the shape of the earth: the hull of the ship
+having dipped down below the horizon, while the masts still stood up
+within sight.
+
+When we see the Sun in the sky, he is always a round body. But when he
+sinks at night below the horizon part of the round surface is hidden
+first, and then the whole. Hidden in the same way: by the Earth’s
+rounded surface coming between him and our eyes.
+
+At the moment when the Sun is all but gone, only one glimmer being
+visible, you might say of him too, as of the ship, that he is
+“hull-down.”
+
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+ 1. What is a Sphere?
+
+A body in the shape of a rounded ball or globe.
+
+ 2. What shape is our Earth?
+
+The Earth is a sphere in shape: but not a perfect sphere, because
+flattened at the north and south poles.
+
+ 3. What is a hemisphere?
+
+A hemisphere is a half-sphere.
+
+ 4. Describe the two hemispheres of the Earth, commonly so called?
+
+The northern hemisphere is the whole of the Earth north of the equator;
+and the southern hemisphere is the whole of the Earth south of the
+equator.
+
+ 5. What is the Equator?
+
+A line supposed to be drawn round the whole earth, exactly half-way
+between the north and south poles.
+
+ 6. What is the horizon?
+
+The horizon is that line in the distance where the sky and earth seem
+to meet.
+
+ 7. What hides all below the horizon?
+
+The solid body of our Earth.
+
+ 8. How far can a man see on the Earth?
+
+A few miles, usually. On a hill he has a much wider view.
+
+ 9. How far can a man see in the sky?
+
+He can see stars millions and billions of miles away.
+
+ 10. What is meant by a ship “hull-down?”
+
+A ship “hull-down” is partly above and partly below the horizon.
+
+ 11. What becomes of the Sun when he sets?
+
+He goes down below the horizon.
+
+ 12. Is the Sun then too far off for us to see him?
+
+No: he is only hidden from us after sunset by the solid body of the
+Earth coming between him and our eyes.
+
+ 13. Does the Earth’s surface really rise to meet the sky?
+
+No: it really drops away, so that beyond a certain line we can no
+longer see it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+WHY MEN DO NOT FALL OFF.
+
+
+We come now to a curious thought.
+
+The world is a round ball; and people live on all parts of it.
+Therefore, a man on the opposite side from us stands with his feet
+turned upwards towards our feet and his head pointing in the other
+direction--“hanging downwards, in short,” you might say.
+
+This seems extremely odd.
+
+Suppose you hold a big ball, and place a pea on the top of it. The pea
+will stay where you put it, if you keep your hand steady. But if you
+place the pea at the side or bottom of the ball it will instantly drop
+away. Try for yourself, and you will see.
+
+To be sure, a fly or a spider might stand with equal ease on the top
+or the bottom of the ball. The feet of a fly and a spider are made for
+clinging and walking in such a position. Man is not formed to stand or
+walk upside down, like a fly on the ceiling.
+
+Now, why don’t the people on the other side of the world, in Australia
+for instance, drop off the earth, and fall away into the sky?
+
+Of course there is a sky under our feet, just as much as over our
+heads. The entire world is surrounded on all sides by sky; not only
+over our heads, but down under our feet, beyond the solid Earth on
+which we stand, and in all directions.
+
+If you were to travel round the world, and were to reach
+Australia--then, as you stood on the ground, your feet would point
+upwards to the feet of people in the United States; just as two flies,
+standing on two opposite sides of a ball, have their feet pointed,
+those of one fly towards those of the other. It cannot help being so,
+because of the shape of our Earth.
+
+How do you think you would feel there? Do you think you would be in
+danger of dropping off the Earth into the blue sky?
+
+Not in the least. No more danger of such an accident in Australia than
+in America. Nothing indeed would astonish you more! Instead of being
+disposed to fall from the Earth, you would find it every inch as hard
+there as here to get away from the Earth. Your own weight would hold
+you fast to the ground in Australia just the same as in America.
+
+Try to jump up into the air, with all your strength. Try your very
+utmost; get as far away as you can from the ground, and stay up in the
+air as long as possible.
+
+Not much good; is it? Do what you will, you do not find that you can
+rise more than a foot or two, and you instantly drop back again. The
+most powerful leaper can manage at most only a few feet. A man is quite
+unable to stay up in the air at all, unless something holds him there:
+far less is he able to drop or float away into the sky.
+
+And the reason why he cannot is that he is too heavy. He is too heavy
+in America: and he is too heavy in Australia. In both cases he is
+heavy _towards the ground_: and he cannot get away from the ground
+without something to bear him up. It is just as impossible that people
+in Australia should drop off the world into the sky as that people in
+America should do so.
+
+But--you will perhaps say--the sky is _above_ us here; and in Australia
+it would be _under_ us.
+
+Oh, no; it would not! The sky is all round the whole Earth, on every
+side alike. In all parts of the world people have the sky over their
+heads and firm ground beneath their feet.
+
+The Australian sky is under the feet of those who live in North
+America: that is true. But then it is no less true that the North
+American sky is under the feet of those who live in Australia. To you
+the Earth is underneath: the sky is overhead. To an Australian also the
+Earth is underneath and the sky is overhead. All round the world it is
+the same. _Down_ means always towards the ground. _Up_ means always
+towards the sky.
+
+If you hold up a stone in the air, and let it go, what happens? The
+stone drops at once to the ground.
+
+If you fling a ball into the air, what happens? The ball goes a little
+upwards, carried by the force of your fling: but soon it curves over
+and comes to the ground.
+
+If you tilt up a jug full of water, what happens? The water pours down
+upon the floor.
+
+If a man steps over a precipice-edge, what happens? He falls to the
+bottom, and is most likely killed.
+
+But these things are not more true of the United States than of
+Australia. All round the world, in every part, it is the same. Water
+always flows downward. Loose bodies always drop downward, unless kept
+up by something.
+
+We have been asking why it is that people never drop off from the Earth
+into the sky. Of course nobody ever asks that question about the part
+of the Earth on which he happens to be. Whether he is in England, or in
+America, or in Australia, he knows very well that _he_ is in no danger
+of “dropping off.” The very idea as to himself would seem absurd. To
+“drop off” would really be to rise upward into the sky: and he feels
+that he is much too heavy for that. It is only when he thinks about
+the other side of the world, and about people walking there with their
+heads hanging downward----
+
+But they do _not_ walk with their heads hanging downward. Their heads,
+like ours, point upward to the sky; and their feet, like ours, rest
+firmly on solid ground; and they too, like us, are heavy towards the
+Earth. It is as impossible for a man in Australia as for a man in
+England or America to “drop off” the Earth--in other words, to rise
+upwards towards the sky. His own weight holds him down.
+
+What do we mean by “weight?” What makes a man “heavy?”
+
+He is made heavy by the Earth’s pulling or attracting him; and this
+gives him weight.
+
+And how does the Earth pull?
+
+There I cannot tell you much. We know that the Earth does pull: but how
+she pulls is another question. We name that pulling “Attraction,” and
+sometimes we call it by a longer word, “Gravitation.” But not the very
+wisest man living can explain to us exactly what attraction _is_. He
+can only tell us what it _does_.
+
+Did you ever see a magnet? It is generally shaped rather like a
+horse-shoe: and the two ends have an odd drawing power. A number of
+tiny iron shavings, held near enough, will jump up to meet the magnet
+as if they were alive. This is because the magnet pulls them towards
+itself. Sometimes a toy-box of metal ducks or fishes is sold, with a
+magnet; and they will follow the magnet to and fro, in a basin of water.
+
+Now our Earth seems to be a sort of huge magnet, with power to pull
+towards herself, not only iron or steel, but every single thing and
+creature upon her surface. Not only on one side of the Earth, but
+around the whole globe, on every part, there is the same steady
+downward drag, always _toward the centre of the Earth_.
+
+The mountains are pulled earthward: so are houses and trees, rocks and
+soils, seas and rivers, animals and men. There is not a single thing on
+or near the surface of our Earth which is not thus drawn earthward.
+
+If it were not for this attraction nothing would have any weight. When
+you leap upward and instantly drop back it is because the Earth drags
+you down. Without such dragging you would not be heavy at all.
+
+Think what that would mean. You might jump over the highest mountains
+with ease: or you might spring away into the sky, and never return:
+only, of course, there is no air, far away in the sky, and you could
+not breathe without air.
+
+But if the Earth did not attract we should have no air here either,
+because it would long ago have all wandered away. Earth’s strong
+attraction holds the air prisoner, as well as all other things upon her
+surface.
+
+Now do you begin to see how it is that people do not fall away into
+the sky, from any part of Earth? They are held firmly down by Earth’s
+perpetual drag, which gives them weight. Whether they are in England or
+in Australia, in Asia or in America, makes no difference. The _pull_ is
+always downward, always earthward. The difficulty always is to get away
+from earth, upward, toward the sky.
+
+So when we think of the world as a whole we have to remember that in
+the surrounding sky there is no true “up” or “down” in one direction
+more than another. “Up” is towards the sky for each man, from that part
+of Earth on which he stands: and as our Earth is ever turning round and
+round our “up” is constantly changing its direction.
+
+Perhaps you will think that I am rather slow in getting to my subject
+of “The Starry Skies.” Two whole chapters first about this old Earth of
+ours!
+
+But indeed I have not been slow: for on the very first page we started
+right off with a Bright World in the Sky.
+
+By this time you know that our world is actually in the sky, just as
+much as the sun and moon are in the sky. We are in the moon’s sky, and
+in the sun’s sky, and in the sky of all other planets and all other
+stars. For our Earth floats in the same boundless sky-depths as all of
+them, those sky-depths which are usually known by the name of _Space_.
+
+So now, when “Space” is spoken of, you will understand. You will know
+that it means the Sky, in which float all the heavenly bodies.
+
+“Only”--you will perhaps say--“the Moon and the Sun are bright; and so
+are the Stars. But our dull old world is not bright at all.”
+
+That is a great mistake, I assure you. Our world is very bright indeed.
+She shines with an exquisite radiance. Not indeed with such a dazzling
+glory as the Sun, but quite as brightly as the Moon.
+
+Have you ever noticed how the ocean shines, and flashes forth light,
+when the Sun beats down full upon it? Or, again, have you not been
+struck with the shining of white clouds in sunlight? More or less the
+whole surface of our Earth catches and gives forth again the brightness
+that comes to her from the Sun.
+
+If we could travel away from the Earth to a good distance--say, as
+far as to the Moon--we should see the round Earth like an enormous,
+brilliant Moon in the sky, only far larger and more beautiful than our
+Moon ever looks to us. Some parts would be darker, some more shining;
+but as a whole the Earth would be a splendid sight.
+
+Not bright? Yes, indeed; we are living on a very bright world indeed,
+though we cannot always see her radiance.
+
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+ 1. What is Space?
+
+By Space we mean Sky--the whole great Sky, in which are all the
+heavenly bodies.
+
+ 2. Is our Earth in the Sky?
+
+Just as truly as the Sun and Moon are in the Sky. They are in our sky,
+we are in their sky.
+
+ 3. Does our Earth float in Air?
+
+No; she floats in the Sky: and the air is a part of the Earth.
+
+ 4. Do people on the other side of the globe walk head downwards?
+
+No; they walk as we do, on firm ground, with the Sky over their heads.
+
+ 5. What is meant by “up” and “down” to us on Earth?
+
+On every part of the Earth _up_ is always toward the Sky, and _down_ is
+always toward the Earth.
+
+ 6. Give some examples of the way in which all things move earthward.
+
+Water always pours downward. A stone flung, or a ball dropped, always
+reaches the ground.
+
+ 7. Why do things descend thus?
+
+Because of their own weight or heaviness.
+
+ 8. What causes weight?
+
+The pull of the earth.
+
+ 9. Give two other names for that “pull.”
+
+Attraction and Gravitation.
+
+ 10. Tell me a few things that are pulled earthward.
+
+Men, animals, trees, houses, rocks, cities, hills, mountains, lakes,
+rivers, oceans, air, clouds, etc.
+
+ 11. What keeps people on the other side of the Earth from dropping off
+ into the sky?
+
+They cannot possibly drop off; because the sky there is upward, the
+same as here.
+
+ 12. What would “dropping off” really be?
+
+It would be rising upward into the sky.
+
+ 13. Why should a man not rise upward?
+
+He cannot, because he is too heavy.
+
+ 14. He is heavy towards what?
+
+He is heavy towards the Earth, because of the Earth’s attraction.
+
+ 15. Is he as heavy in Australia as in the United States?
+
+Exactly the same.
+
+ 16. In what direction is he pulled there?
+
+Towards the Earth. All round our whole world the pull is towards the
+centre of the Earth.
+
+ 17. Can our Earth be called “a bright world?”
+
+Quite as much so as other planets. If we were far enough off she would
+be seen by us to shine with reflected sunlight, like the Moon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+BY DAY AND BY NIGHT.
+
+
+Let us take a good look up into the sky, and see what is to be found
+there.
+
+First, by day. Beginning in the early morning, just before sunrise,
+we have perhaps a clear sky, grayish rather than blue, and towards
+the east a brightening glow shows that the Sun is about to appear.
+That glow grows stronger and stronger, and soon a tiny glimmer creeps
+up over the rounded surface of our earth. Then the broad golden face
+follows, till the sun is visible, and full daylight has arrived.
+
+But the Sun does not stand still there, low down on the horizon. He
+goes on rising higher and higher, “climbing the heavens” steadily, one
+hour after another. At mid-day--twelve o’clock--he has reached his very
+highest point. Then he begins to descend, moving downward towards the
+west till he reaches the western horizon and vanishes from our sight.
+
+The Sun always rises in the East; never in the West. He always sets in
+the West; never in the East.
+
+By this I mean that he always rises to _the_ _east of our world_ and
+sets to _the west of our world_. He rises on the eastern side of the
+Earth and sets on the western side. You must not suppose that he always
+rises due east and sets due west of all countries in the world at once.
+
+On two days only he does so--that is at the Spring Equinox, on March
+21st, and at the Autumn Equinox, on Sept. 21st. “Equinox” means “Equal
+Nights.” At those two dates days and nights are of the same length,
+twelve hours each, throughout the whole world; and everywhere the Sun
+rises exactly in the east, and sets exactly in the west.
+
+Everywhere except at the north and south poles. There the Sun is seen
+to circle round the sky in twenty-four hours, just above the horizon,
+neither rising nor setting.
+
+A man standing on the equator at one of the equinoxes sees the Sun rise
+just in the east; climb high in the sky just over his head; and set
+just in the west.
+
+People living in the northern parts of Europe and of America do not see
+precisely the same thing. With them the Sun does not circle round the
+sky, just over the horizon, as at the poles. And though he rises in the
+east and sets in the west, as at the equator, he does not reach the
+highest point in the sky, but only a point somewhat lower down, towards
+the south.
+
+The very highest point in the sky, exactly over one’s head, is called
+“the zenith.” In northern countries the Sun never gets to the zenith.
+No; not even on the very hottest summer day. He is always towards the
+south.
+
+There are two other dates, which you ought to learn, besides the
+_Spring Equinox_ and the _Autumn Equinox_. These are--the _Summer
+Solstice_, on June 21; and the _Winter Solstice_, on December 21.
+
+On the 21st of June the Sun is not exactly overhead at the Equator, as
+at the Equinoxes. He has come farther north; not nearly so far north as
+England or Canada, but as far north as he ever does come.
+
+By that time days and nights are not at all equal through the world.
+In the north of Europe and America we have long days and short nights;
+while our friends in Australia have long nights and short days.
+
+Although the Sun is never actually overhead with people in the northern
+parts of Europe and America, but is always somewhat to the south, even
+at his highest point, still he climbs very much higher in June than in
+March or September, and so he is much longer above the horizon.
+
+Things are quite the other way on the 21st of December. Then the Sun is
+overhead, not farther north than the Equator, but farther south. Then
+it is summer in the southern hemisphere and winter in the northern.
+Then we who live in England or in the northern parts of North America
+have long nights and short days, while our friends in Australia are
+having long days and short nights.
+
+Then, too, in the north, the highest point at mid-day which the Sun can
+reach is low down in the south; and his rays come to us in a slanting
+manner, with far less power to warm than when they are poured down from
+nearly overhead. That is why we are so cold in the dark months of the
+year.
+
+At the equinoxes the Sun rises to the east and sets to the west of
+almost the whole Earth.
+
+In our northern summer the Sun rises to the north-east, travels round
+by the south, and sets in the north-west.
+
+In our northern winter, the Sun rises to the south-east, climbs up a
+little way, and sets in the south-west.
+
+These changes come about slowly. Every twenty-four hours there is a
+difference. Each day of spring the Sun rises and sets a little more to
+the north, and climbs higher in the sky. Each day of autumn he rises
+and sets a little more to the south, and climbs less high in the sky.
+
+But all the while, though he may rise to the north-east or south-east
+of New York or London or some other particular spot, he rises to the
+east of the _world_; though he may set to the north-west or south-west
+of any particular spot, he sets to the west of the _world_.
+
+You will find a grand description in the 19th Psalm of this daily
+journey of “the Sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his
+chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth
+is from the end of heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it; and
+there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.”
+
+The full meaning of that heat and strength can hardly be known in
+northern lands. Their hottest summer day’s heat is as nothing, compared
+with the scorching blaze and glare of the Sun in countries nearer to
+the equator--for instance, in that country where the Psalm was written.
+
+Through all the ages of our world’s history, from the very beginning,
+the radiant Sun has risen and set, day after day. Morning after morning
+he has come up from beyond the horizon on one side; evening after
+evening he has vanished below the horizon on the other side. Year after
+year, and century after century, still “like a strong man” he runs his
+daily race, and warms and lights each side of the world in turn.
+
+Now about the Sky at night. What happens when the Sun is gone?
+
+The bright blue of the sky grows fainter and more dull, and stars begin
+to show themselves.
+
+First, one little twinkle is seen; then another little twinkle; then
+a third; till, if it be a clear evening, the whole sky is dotted with
+gleaming points. Some are more bright, some are less bright. Here one
+flashes like a diamond, with different colors; there another is so dim
+as hardly to be seen at all.
+
+It may be that we have caught sight of the Moon before the Sun has
+set--should she happen to be in a right place in the sky, not too near
+to the Sun. While he is up, if we get a glimpse of her at all, she
+looks like a mere pale patch of whiteness. But when the Sun is gone,
+and darkness deepens, she changes fast; and soon she is lighted up with
+a soft silvery glow, sending her beams to the Earth.
+
+Now, you all know--everybody knows--that the Sun rises each morning,
+crosses the sky, and sets each evening.
+
+But perhaps not every boy and girl knows quite so clearly that the Moon
+and the Stars behave very much in the same manner. They too, either in
+the day or in the night, rise and cross the sky and set; and at night
+we may see them do it.
+
+We cannot always watch the rising and setting of the Moon: for when
+she rises in the day-time her soft beams are often lost in the glare
+of sunlight. Still she is always there, in the sky: always rising and
+setting to _some_ part of our Earth. When we say, as we often do, “Is
+there a moon to-night?” we mean, “Is the moon where we can see her
+to-night?” There is always a Moon, and there is always the same Moon.
+
+As to the Stars, their movements are puzzling, no doubt. No two stars
+rise at the same point or take just the same path over the sky, or set
+on the same spot. Some rise exactly east, and set exactly west. Some
+rise in the south-east and set in the south-west. Some rise in the
+north-east, and set in the north-west.
+
+No star is ever seen, however, to rise anywhere towards the _west_, and
+to travel backwards towards the _east_. All the stars in company move
+as a whole _from the eastern side of the world towards the western side
+of the world_. That is to say, they seem to move thus.
+
+Some stars to the north do not rise or set at all, as seen from the
+northern parts of Europe and North America. They only travel round and
+round, in a circle about the Pole-star, which is almost exactly over
+our north pole. Yet their movements too are from east to west.
+
+If we lived in the southern hemisphere we should see the same thing
+going on nightly, only with a different set of stars.
+
+Then the far-south stars would circle round and round over the south
+pole; and those lying over the north pole would be hidden by the Earth
+lying between. But still the whole movement would be always from east
+to west; never from west to east.
+
+Each tiny star, bright or dim, takes its daily journey, like the sun,
+once in twenty-four hours. No matter whether it has to go right round
+the whole Earth or whether it only has to creep in a small circle round
+the Pole-star--still the journey is always the same in length: always
+close upon twenty-four hours. At the end of twenty-four hours it is
+back at its starting point, and begins over again. Just as the Sun does.
+
+If you look out at night sometimes, and watch carefully, you will see
+for yourself something of this constant nightly journeying of the stars.
+
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+ 1. Where does the Sun rise and set?
+
+The Sun rises in the East and sets in the West.
+
+ 2. Always in the East and West exactly?
+
+Always to the east of our world and to the west of our world. Not due
+east and due west of each particular country always.
+
+ 3. When is the Spring Equinox?
+
+On the twenty-first of March.
+
+ 4. When is the Autumn Equinox?
+
+On the twenty-first of September.
+
+ 5. What does the word Equinox mean?
+
+Equal nights. At the Equinox, days and nights are of the same length
+over almost the whole world.
+
+ 6. When is the Summer Solstice?
+
+On the twenty-first of June.
+
+ 7. When is the Winter Solstice?
+
+On the twenty-first of December.
+
+ 8. In what direction does the Sun rise and set at the Equinoxes?
+
+At each of the equinoxes the sun rises due east, and sets due west,
+over all the world, except at the poles.
+
+ 9. At the Summer Solstice where does the Sun rise and set?
+
+To people in England, or in Canada, or in the northern States, he rises
+in the north-east and sets in the north-west.
+
+ 10. And in the Winter Solstice?
+
+To those same places he rises then in the south-east and sets in the
+south-west.
+
+ 11. What do we call the highest point in the heavens, exactly over
+ one’s head?
+
+The zenith.
+
+ 12. Does the Sun ever reach the zenith in England, or in the northern
+ parts of North America?
+
+Never. He rises much higher in summer than in winter at midday, but he
+is always to the south of the highest point.
+
+ 13. When or where may the Sun be seen precisely overhead?
+
+On the equator, at the two equinoxes.
+
+ 14. At what hour of the day may the Sun be seen exactly overhead?
+
+Only at Mid-day.
+
+ 15. Do any other heavenly bodies rise and set?
+
+Yes; the Moon and the Stars; in fact, nearly all the heavenly bodies.
+
+ 16. Can we see the Moon rise and set?
+
+Sometimes; not always.
+
+ 17. Tell me one reason why we sometimes do not see the Moon.
+
+Sometimes she rises and gets at about the same time as the Sun; and
+then she is hidden by his brightness.
+
+ 18. How do the Stars rise and set?
+
+Like the Sun and Moon, they rise in the east of the world and set in
+the west of the world.
+
+ 19. Do all the Stars take the same journey?
+
+Some rise due east, some north-east, some south-east; and they set
+either due west, or north-west, or south-west.
+
+ 20. Does every Star that we can see rise and set?
+
+No; many stars to the far north never rise nor set to us in England or
+the northern States, but circle round and round the pole-star.
+
+ 21. How long a time does this journey take--either round the world or
+ round the pole-star?
+
+Nearly twenty-four hours for each star.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+HOW THE WORLD SPINS.
+
+
+In our last chapter we saw how the Sun rises and sets in the day, and
+how the Moon and Stars rise and set in the night.
+
+True, they also rise and set, by day as well as by night. The Moon
+often does so: and all day long there are Stars coming up in the east,
+and stars crossing the sky, and stars going down in the west. But we
+cannot see them. Until the great Sun has withdrawn his radiance the
+little star-gleams are hidden from us, and even the Moon can seldom be
+caught sight of.
+
+In the daytime, when you look up into the blue sky, and see a blaze
+of sunlight, you should sometimes remember that the stars are there.
+All day long, as well as all night long, the stars are there, shining
+just as usual. All day long, as well as all night long, they are moving
+steadily across our sky: rising, marching onward, and setting. We
+cannot see them; but that is because our eyes are weak, not because the
+stars themselves do not shine.
+
+So by day and by night the heavenly bodies seem to be ever on the move.
+No matter what part of the world you may be in--whether England or
+America, whether India or Australia--still you will find them moving.
+By day you will see the Sun rising in the east, journeying towards the
+west, and setting. By night you will see the Moon, and most of the
+stars, rising in the east, journeying towards the west and setting.
+
+This goes on continually. It is always the same. Year after year, there
+is no change.
+
+The Sun rises in one spot, crosses the sky, sets; and then a few hours
+afterwards rises again in very nearly the same spot as before, to cross
+the sky by very nearly the same path, and to set in almost exactly
+the same part of the western horizon. Each day there is a tiny, very
+tiny, difference; but by the end of twelve months the Sun gets back to
+exactly the same spot in rising and setting as in the previous year.
+And most of the stars follow the Sun’s example.
+
+Why should not one fix upon a bright star overhead, and hurry along on
+the ground, just as fast as the star goes, so as to keep it overhead
+longer--to keep it in sight?
+
+There is no reason why one should not do this, if only one could get
+along fast enough.
+
+It would have to be very rapid travelling. If you wished to keep that
+star in sight, overhead, for twenty-four hours, you would have to
+do--what do you think? You would have to rush _round the whole world_
+in twenty-four hours!
+
+If you could possibly manage to do that, you might possibly choose any
+bright star overhead that you liked, and keep it in view all night; in
+fact for two nights, with no day between; for you would journey _with
+the night_.
+
+Or if you chose to follow the Sun by day, keeping him overhead in your
+rapid rush over continents, and mountains, and oceans, you might have
+a double day of twenty-four hours, with sunshine all the while and no
+darkness.
+
+But think what such a rush would mean! Think how big the world is!
+People sometimes do travel all round the whole earth, and the journey
+takes them many months. Even if they stopped to look at nothing by
+the way, and went as fast as possible, and cared nothing about being
+tired--even then, at the very least, it would take them many weeks.
+
+To get round the world, on the Equator, or from England, or from the
+United States, or from Australia, in twenty-four hours, is a thing
+which no living man could ever do! The Sun and the stars go much too
+fast for us.
+
+They are seen to whirl round the whole earth, swiftly and calmly and
+easily, with no manner of fuss or difficulty, once in every twenty-four
+hours!
+
+Ah! but do they? That is the question. Do they really all whirl round
+and round, at this rate?
+
+When you take a journey in a train, and look out of the window, what do
+you see?
+
+Everything seems to be moving. The more distant hills travel slowly;
+fields and villages speed at a good rate; houses and hedges near at
+hand rush by; and the telegraph poles flash past as if running away.
+But one house does not go one way and another house in the opposite
+way. All of them journey in the same direction.
+
+Do they really journey? Are the fields and hills, the villages and
+trees and telegraph poles, all spinning swiftly along, while you in
+your train sit quite still, not moving at all?
+
+It must be one of the two things: either _they_ are on the move, and
+you are quiet; or else they are quiet, and _you_ are yourself rushing
+along, so that they only seem to move.
+
+You would not have much difficulty in deciding. Even if you did not
+feel the carriage in which you sit to be shaking and jarring with its
+own rush, still you would count it easier to believe that the train was
+going forward than to think that all the hills and fields and trees and
+houses were speeding the opposite way.
+
+It is almost the same thing with our earth. We see the Sun, and the
+Moon, and all the stars, hurrying past, and we have to believe one of
+two things: either _they_ are all moving, and we are still; or else
+_we_ are moving and that makes them only seem to move.
+
+For a long while people were not quite so sensible about the heavenly
+bodies in the sky as you would be about the houses and fields seen out
+of a train. It seemed to them easier to believe that all the stars went
+round and round the earth, than to believe that the solid earth herself
+moved.
+
+There was this excuse, that the earth does not jar and rattle like a
+train, and also that the distances of the stars cannot be easily seen
+at a glance, like the distances of hills and valleys.
+
+We have learned differently now. We know that our earth does indeed
+move; and that the daily journey of the Sun, the nightly journey of
+the moon and planets and stars, is not a real journey. It is only a
+_seeming journey_. They _seem_ to move, because our earth truly moves,
+just as the hedges and trees _seem_ to move when looked upon out of a
+train which really moves.
+
+Day and night the earth moves. Day and night, year after year, she
+spins, like an enormous top, upon her axis.
+
+By the “axis” of the earth I mean a straight line through her centre,
+from the north pole to the south pole.
+
+If you have a school-globe you will see that it turns round and round
+upon a kind of large pin, which reaches from one pole to the other.
+That is its “axis,” and that is how the Earth spins.
+
+Or you may stick a long bonnet-pin through an orange, from one
+flattened end to the other, and spin the orange upon that pin, which is
+then the axis of the orange.
+
+A spinning-top also has an axis. There is no pin stuck through the top;
+but as it whirls round, humming, and remaining in one spot, there _is_
+a line from top to bottom of it which does not seem to move. The whole
+top whirls round this line, which again is the axis of the top.
+
+Our Earth has no huge pin passed through her body; but, like the top,
+as she spins there is a line straight through her, from the north to
+the south pole, which keeps still, while round it whirls the whole big
+body of the Earth. And that is the Earth’s _axis_.
+
+If a man stands close to the north pole, or close to the south pole,
+at either end of the axis, he moves very little. But if he is far away
+from the poles, on or near the equator, the ground on which he stands
+rushes along at a great rate, carrying him with it.
+
+He does not feel the movement. He is not shaken or jolted. The Earth
+whirls very smoothly. As she spins she carries with her, on her
+surface, all the mountains and seas, the hills and valleys, the trees
+and towns and villages, yes, and the very air which we breathe. Nothing
+is left behind.
+
+So the man cannot know how fast he is going by any feeling of his own.
+He can only know it by looking up into the sky. There he sees the Sun,
+the Moon, the Planets, the Stars, all hurrying past. Why? Because _he_
+is hurrying past--not because they are.
+
+They all go in the same direction, from east to west. We have seen this
+plainly. It is not a journeying of some stars one way, and some stars
+another way. It is one great sweep of the whole heavens from the east
+of the world toward the west of the world.
+
+And the reason of this is that our Earth spins or whirls _from the west
+to the east_.
+
+That is what makes the Sun and the Stars all seem to rise in the east
+and set in the west.
+
+In the morning, when you get up early, and look towards the east, you
+are gazing at that part of the sky towards which you are travelling.
+The Sun is not coming to meet you, but you are going to meet him.
+This solid world on which you stand is whirling like a big teetotum,
+carrying you round in his direction.
+
+So presently you see him seem to creep up over the horizon. And
+by-and-by, at mid-day, the moving surface of the Earth has carried you
+on almost underneath him. And later in the evening, as you are still
+whirled on toward the east, you leave the Sun behind you, in the west.
+
+But still he goes on rising to other parts of the world, as country
+after country spins round into his light.
+
+At night it is the same thing over again. Each star that rises only
+_seems_ to rise, because we on the Earth’s surface are whirled round
+towards that part of the sky in which the star always shines. Then we
+pass on, and leave that star behind, as we left the Sun; and we say
+that it has set.
+
+But the Sun and the Star have not moved. It is _we_ who have moved; not
+they.
+
+So when we think of the Earth as a whole we have to picture her, not
+only as a large solid globe floating in the sky, but as a spinning
+globe, ever turning round and round like a top or a teetotum.
+
+It is this whirling movement of the Earth which gives us _Day_ and
+_Night_.
+
+For, as our Earth floats and spins, one side of her is always turned
+toward the Sun, and is in daylight; the other side is turned away from
+the Sun, and is in darkness. Each land and ocean in turn comes towards
+the Sun in the east and passes onward, leaving the Sun in the west.
+
+And around, on all sides, is the great Sky, which sometimes we name
+“Space,” and which sometimes we call “The Heavens.” In that Sky float
+all the Worlds and all the Stars, as well as our Earth and our Moon and
+Sun. And in that sky is GOD himself.
+
+HE made the Sky, the Sun and the Moon and the Earth, the Planets and
+the Stars; and HE is everywhere, around and amidst and in them all.
+Wherever in the boundless reaches of Space we may wander in thought, we
+shall never find a spot where God himself is not.
+
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+ 1. Where are Stars in the day-time?
+
+In the sky: only we cannot see them.
+
+ 2. Could a man travel round the world from America or England as fast
+ as a Star travels?
+
+No: he would have to go round the whole world in twenty-four hours.
+
+ 3. Do the Stars really journey round the world?
+
+They only seem to do so.
+
+ 4. But the Sun rises and sets, does he not?
+
+He seems to do so. It is really our Earth that moves.
+
+ 5. In what way does the Earth move?
+
+Once in twenty-four hours she whirls round on her axis from west to
+east.
+
+ 6. What is the Earth’s axis?
+
+An imaginary line through her centre, from the north pole to the south
+pole.
+
+ 7. How does our Earth’s spinning make the heavenly bodies seem to move?
+
+A little in the same way that, when we journey in a fast train, houses
+and trees and fields seem to go the other way.
+
+ 8. Did people always know that the Earth whirled round?
+
+No; they used to think it was a real journeying of the Sun and Stars in
+our sky.
+
+ 9. Where does the surface of the Earth move fastest?
+
+On the equator. The ground there rushes at a great speed.
+
+ 10. Where does it move most slowly?
+
+At the poles.
+
+ 11. Does a man standing on the equator feel how fast he moves?
+
+No; because the Earth moves smoothly; and everything on the ground and
+in the air is carried along by the Earth.
+
+ 12. How can he know that the Earth moves?
+
+By looking up into the sky--like a man in a train looking out of the
+window.
+
+ 13. How does the Earth’s spinning make the Sun seem to rise?
+
+The Sun remains fixed--but a man on the Earth is carried round towards
+the east, and so the Sun seems to come towards him from the east.
+
+ 14. And how does it make the Sun seem to set?
+
+The man is still carried on towards the east, and by-and-by he leaves
+the Sun behind him in the west.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE MOON BY NIGHT.
+
+
+How far off would you guess the Moon to be from our Earth?
+
+A mile or two, perhaps you will say. Or twenty miles! Or forty miles!
+Or one hundred miles!
+
+Even on Earth it is often puzzling to tell distances. If one is looking
+across a smooth surface, with nothing to break it, one cannot easily
+judge. I remember going in a sailing-boat, as a child, and after a good
+while saying, “Why, what a little way we have come! The shore looks
+only a mile or two off!” And I was told that it was at least ten miles
+off.
+
+You see, there was nothing between to break the smooth water-surface,
+and so to show how far we had sailed.
+
+If it is perplexing down here on Earth it is much more so up in the
+Sky. There, nothing lies between to break the great distance; and the
+stars seem so much alike, except that some are a little brighter and
+some a little dimmer. One might very easily suppose that the Moon and
+the Sun and all the Stars were at much the same distances from the
+Earth.
+
+Yet nothing could be a greater mistake. Some are very near, and some
+are enormously far away.
+
+That is to say, some are very near compared with others. But even the
+very nearest is a great deal farther off than fifty or a hundred miles.
+
+Of all bright bodies in the sky, seen day after day and night after
+night from our Earth, not one ever comes so close as the round silvery
+Moon.
+
+The Moon is our own especial companion. She always journeys with us,
+and never goes away.
+
+Before we learn the distance of the Moon we have to think a little
+about her size. You have not yet learned about the size of our Earth,
+so we will take the two friends together.
+
+There are two ways of measuring a ball or globe. We may say how big
+it is _through the middle_, from one side to the other. Or we may say
+how big it is _round the outside_. The outside measure is always about
+three times as much as the through-measure.
+
+A large grape may be one inch through, and three inches round outside.
+A small orange may be two inches through, and six inches round outside.
+A large apple might be three inches through, and nine inches round
+outside. A small cocoa-nut might be four inches through and twelve
+inches round outside. A school-globe might be one foot through and
+three feet round outside; or two feet through, and six feet round
+outside. A balloon might be twenty feet through and sixty feet round
+outside. Or it might be thirty feet through, and ninety feet round
+outside.
+
+The through measure is called the _Diameter_ of a ball, and the outside
+measure is called its _Circumference_. A globe may be of any size; and
+it can be measured according to its size in inches, or feet, or yards,
+or miles.
+
+Our Earth is a little less than _eight thousand miles_ through, from
+side to side, or from north pole to south pole. Its outside measure,
+right round the equator, is nearly _twenty-five thousand miles_.
+
+This will not give you any clear idea. It only sounds very large.
+
+Think first of a mile. One mile is a good way for a little child to
+walk; but not much for a big boy. Some people count five or six miles a
+very long walk, while others think nothing of ten or twelve miles. Not
+many men can do as much as thirty or forty miles in a day.
+
+But even fifty miles are only half of one hundred. And it takes ten
+hundreds to make one thousand. And the through-measure of our Earth is
+eight thousands of miles.
+
+If that man, whose story you heard in the first chapter, ever had
+really done as the story says, and walked round the whole world, he
+would have gone about twenty-five thousand miles!
+
+How long would that have taken him? Certainly very much longer than
+twenty-four hours. He could not possibly have got along at the rate of
+one thousand miles and more each hour. The fastest express train does
+not manage over sixty or seventy miles in an hour.
+
+If he had journeyed all the while, Sundays and week-days alike, twenty
+miles each day, then he would have got round the world in three years
+and a half. And if he had only done ten miles a day he would have been
+nearly seven years getting round.
+
+Of course no man could really cross the oceans on foot; but this will
+help you to a little notion of what the size of our Earth is.
+
+A very big globe, is she not? yet not truly large, compared with other
+larger worlds in the sky.
+
+Our Moon is not one of those larger worlds, however.
+
+While the through-measure of the Earth is eight thousand miles that of
+the Moon is only a little more than two thousand miles. And while the
+Earth is nearly twenty-five thousand miles round outside, the Moon is
+only about six thousand miles.
+
+So if we could put a knitting-needle straight through the Moon, with
+the ends just showing, one on each side, it would need to be only a
+quarter as long as a needle to go through the Earth. And a ribbon to
+fold round the Moon should be scarcely a quarter as long as a ribbon
+which could be folded just round the Earth.
+
+This makes a good deal of difference in the sizes of the two globes;
+perhaps more than you would suppose.
+
+I want you now to bring down the Moon, in your mind, to the size of
+a very small ball; only _one inch_ through or _three inches_ round
+outside. Picture her to yourself as getting smaller--and smaller--and
+smaller, till she is only the size of a very big grape.
+
+Then think of the Earth also, as getting smaller and smaller, just
+in the same way. Only the Earth must not get so small as the little
+Moon, in your mind. It must still be four times as long in its
+through-measure--four inches instead of one inch. And while a little
+piece of tape, only three inches long, would go just round the tiny
+Moon, a tape to go round the little Earth would have to be twelve
+inches long.
+
+Then, if the Moon is about the size of a big grape, or a small walnut,
+the Earth will be the size of a very large apple, or of a small
+cocoa-nut.
+
+It would be a good plan to get a walnut and cocoa-nut of the right
+sizes, or, if you like, to find two balls, and to place them side by
+side. The little one must be one inch through, the bigger one must be
+four inches through. Looking upon them, you will see in a moment how
+great is the difference between the Earth and the Moon.
+
+I shall often speak of these sizes, so it would be as well to fix them
+now in your mind, and have them there, ready for use.
+
+Now as to the distance of the Moon from the Earth:
+
+It is about _two hundred and forty thousand miles_!
+
+A rope twenty-five thousand miles long would reach once round the whole
+Earth, if laid down on the equator.
+
+But a rope to reach all the way from our Earth to the Moon would have
+to be more than nine times as long as the equator-rope.
+
+You have tried to picture the Earth in your mind as brought down to the
+size of a small cocoa-nut, and the Moon as brought down to a walnut. In
+doing this we make one little half-inch do duty for a thousand miles;
+so that one inch stands for two thousand miles, and four inches means
+eight thousand miles.
+
+The Moon is two thousand miles through; therefore a ball or walnut,
+to picture the Moon, must be one inch through. The Earth is eight
+thousand miles through; therefore a very big apple or small cocoa-nut,
+to picture the Earth, must be four inches through.
+
+In the same way we will bring down the distance of the Moon from the
+Earth. We will let _each thousand miles_ of all that space in the sky
+shrink into a tiny _half-inch_. Then, instead of two hundred and forty
+thousand miles, we shall only have to think of one hundred and twenty
+inches, which make ten feet.
+
+So the smaller ball, or walnut, must be put _ten feet_ off from the
+larger ball, or cocoa-nut. That will give you a picture, not only of
+the size of the earth, compared with the size of the Moon, but also of
+the distance between the two.
+
+Besides putting the two balls ten feet apart you have to think of them
+as two little shining worlds.
+
+That is not quite so easy, is it? Why should they shine?
+
+We know that bodies in the sky do shine; but bodies on the Earth
+more commonly do not. By “bodies” I mean “things.” A marble does not
+shine, nor a grape, nor a walnut, nor an apple, nor an orange, nor a
+school-globe, nor a balloon.
+
+At least they do not shine of themselves. Any of them can be made to
+shine a little, if not much, by being placed in bright sunshine.
+
+Suppose that the two balls--the little imitation-Earth and the little
+imitation-Moon--were made of glass, or of some smooth metal, such
+as tin or silver. And suppose you were to hang them up, by wires,
+out-of-doors, in pitch darkness. Would they shine?
+
+Certainly not. How could they?
+
+But suppose there was another ball, also out in the darkness; a much
+larger ball, shining with great brilliance, like an electric light.
+
+Would the glass or metal balls show any brightness then at all?
+
+Yes; for the shining of the large brilliant ball would light them up,
+at least on one side, and would make them bright.
+
+Light is always _thrown back_ from a smooth surface. If you have a
+looking-glass in a dark room it does not shine; but if you hold it
+in full sunlight it flashes radiantly. Yet the looking-glass has no
+brightness of its own. It only takes and gives out again of the Sun’s
+light.
+
+That is just how our Earth shines, and how the Moon shines. In
+themselves both are dull and dark worlds; but, like the looking-glass,
+they receive radiance from the Sun and give it out again.
+
+Before we go on I want you to be quite clear in your mind as to what
+is really meant by this bringing down of large sizes to small sizes. In
+coming pages you will often hear of it again.
+
+Suppose you have two very large toy-carts, big and heavy. One of them
+is four feet long and two feet wide, the other of them is three feet
+long and one foot and a half wide. And suppose that you are trying to
+explain, to somebody who has not seen them, _how much bigger_ one cart
+is than the other cart.
+
+You may do it by talking, and by showing with your hands about how high
+they each stand.
+
+Or you may do it in quite a different manner, and much more exactly, by
+making a kind of little model of each cart--in paper, or cardboard, or
+wax.
+
+The models would not of course be of the same size as the big carts,
+but they would have to keep what is called the same _proportion_ of
+sizes. The bigger must still be the bigger; and the smaller must still
+be the smaller.
+
+You could let one inch stand for one foot. Then the tiny model of the
+bigger cart--the cart which is four feet long and two feet broad--would
+only be four _inches_ long and two _inches_ broad. And the tiny model
+of the lesser cart--the cart which is three feet long and one foot and
+a half broad--would be only three _inches_ long and one _inch_ and a
+half broad.
+
+Anybody looking on those two tiny model carts could not possibly tell
+how big the real carts are. But he could tell one thing. He could know
+_how much bigger one cart is than the other_.
+
+This is what I hope to show you, by bringing down the sizes of worlds
+and moons--not how large they really are, but how much larger or how
+much smaller one is than another.
+
+Also, by this means we learn to understand distances better.
+
+If you are looking at a map of the world, or of a part of the world,
+the _miles_ in that map have to be brought down into a very tiny space.
+A map of a country, made as large as the country itself, would take
+up a great deal too much room. So half-an-inch is made to do duty for
+perhaps fifty real miles, or a hundred real miles, or even a thousand
+real miles. In quite a small map, a continent or an ocean which is
+really two thousand miles across might be only one inch across.
+
+And yet, looking at that map, small though it is, you are able to see
+how near one country is to your own, and how very much farther off
+another country is.
+
+This is the way in which we are going to think about different
+worlds--those which are nearer and those which are farther. We have to
+make a sort of little map or model of them in our minds; letting one
+inch always picture two thousand real miles.
+
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+ 1. What is meant by the diameter of a ball?
+
+Its “through measure” from one side to the other, straight through the
+centre.
+
+ 2. What is the circumference of a ball?
+
+Its measure round the outside.
+
+ 3. Which is larger, the through measure or the measure round outside?
+
+The outside measure is about three times as large as the through
+measure.
+
+ 4. Give an example or two.
+
+A ball one inch through is about three inches round outside. A ball
+four inches through is about twelve inches round outside.
+
+ 5. What is the Earth’s diameter?
+
+The Earth is nearly 8,000 miles through.
+
+ 6. And the Earth’s circumference?
+
+The Earth is nearly 25,000 miles round at the equator.
+
+ 7. What is the Moon’s diameter?
+
+The Moon is about 2,000 miles through.
+
+ 8. And the Moon’s circumference?
+
+The Moon is about 6,000 miles round outside.
+
+ 9. How far is the Moon from the Earth?
+
+About 240,000 miles.
+
+ 10. How long should a rope be to lie round the Earth on the equator?
+
+About 25,000 miles.
+
+ 11. How many such ropes would reach all the way from here to the Moon?
+
+About nine such ropes joined together.
+
+ 12. If we should let one inch stand for 2,000 miles, how large would
+ the Moon be?
+
+A ball one inch through.
+
+ 13. How large would the Earth be?
+
+A ball four inches through.
+
+ 14. In that case, how far would the Moon be from the Earth?
+
+About ten feet off.
+
+ 15. How do the Earth and the Moon shine?
+
+By giving out again, or throwing back, the sunlight which falls upon
+them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE MOON’S CHANGES.
+
+
+The Moon in our sky does not always seem to be of the same shape.
+
+Sometimes she is quite round, like a plump laughing child-face, with
+eyes and nose and mouth marked in grey shadows. Sometimes a part of
+the round face seems to be shaven off on one side. Sometimes she is
+a half-round. Sometimes she is a bright crescent, wider or narrower.
+Sometimes she is only a slender sickle of light.
+
+Now, how is this? What causes so many changes in the Moon?
+
+You know in what way our Earth shines--as shine she does, if only we
+were far enough off to see it. You know that she is bright on that side
+alone which faces the Sun. And you know too that, as she spins daily on
+her axis, each country in turn comes into the Sun’s rays, is lighted up
+for awhile, then passes away into the night-time of darkness which is
+on the side of the Earth turned away from the Sun.
+
+And you also know that as the Earth shines so the Moon shines.
+
+The Moon has no radiance of her own. She can only, like a
+looking-glass, reflect the Sun’s radiance. In other words, she receives
+his light and throws it off again.
+
+As the Earth spins, so the Moon spins, but very much more slowly. It
+takes our big Earth only twenty-four hours to whirl once round upon her
+axis. It takes the Moon about twenty-eight days to spin once round upon
+her axis.
+
+Only that half of the Moon upon which the Sun shines is bright. Half of
+her is turned towards the Sun, and this half is bright. Half of her is
+turned away from the Sun, and this half is dark.
+
+And we from Earth can see, usually, only the _bright_ side of the Moon,
+or just so much of the bright side as happens to be towards us.
+
+Sometimes the whole of the bright side is turned towards us. Sometimes
+only a part of it, and sometimes none of it is turned towards us.
+
+Now and then we catch a little glimpse of the dark body of the Moon
+when it is not shining in the sunlight. We see a round dark ball held
+in the arms of the silver crescent. That is because our own Earth
+shines so brightly upon the _dark_ side of the Moon as to light it up
+and show it to us. But more often we only perceive the sunlighted side,
+and the darker part is quite hidden.
+
+[Illustration: _The New Moon._]
+
+You have noticed the Full Moon, of course, because the Moon then is at
+her best and brightest. Once a month we always have a Full Moon. It is
+only on one night that the Moon is really quite full; but for two or
+three days before and after she is very nearly so.
+
+At Full Moon _the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon_. On one side
+of our Earth is the Sun; on the other side is the Moon. The Sun shines
+full upon that side of the Moon which is turned towards us; and so
+we see the whole of her round bright face. We know that her farther
+side is in darkness, because it is turned away from the Sun: in almost
+pitch-darkness, for it has not even our Earth to light it up, being
+turned away from us also. It has only Stars on the farther side.
+
+I am speaking of when the Sun has set, and is below our horizon, so
+that we cannot see him, although his rays travel straight to the Moon.
+
+The Sun having set means only that the solid body of our Earth is
+between him and us. It does not interfere with his shining upon the
+Moon.
+
+If our Earth at Full Moon were _exactly_ between the Sun and the Moon,
+that would interfere with his shining upon her. More commonly, however,
+our Earth is not just in the line between, but only very nearly so.
+Thus we get the best possible view of the Moon’s round face.
+
+The Moon does not stay on one side of the Earth. She is always
+travelling round from one side to the other side of us. At another part
+of her monthly journey things are quite different.
+
+A fortnight after Full Moon we have _New Moon_.
+
+At Full Moon the Earth is between Sun and Moon; but at New Moon the
+Moon has come right round to the opposite side, and is _between the Sun
+and the Earth_. Not usually in the exact line between, so as to hide
+the Sun from us, but very nearly so.
+
+Then still the Moon has a bright round face; only we on Earth cannot
+see it. For her bright side is, as always, towards the Sun; and her
+_dark_ side is towards us.
+
+Just at first we cannot see the New Moon at all, for it is entirely
+dark. As she journeys on to one side we get a glimpse of a thin line of
+light shaped like a sickle; and this widens every day. It is while we
+see the sickle of light that we sometimes catch a glimpse of the dark
+side of the Moon, dimly lighted up by Earth-shine.
+
+[Illustration: _The Moon. Second quarter. 10½ days old._]
+
+When the Moon gets half-way back to where she was at Full Moon we are
+able to see _half_ of her bright face, and we call that the “First
+Quarter.” The other half of the bright face is still turned away from
+us, and half of the dark side is still towards us. We do not see the
+whole round face till she gains once more the place of Full Moon--after
+which, between Full Moon and New Moon, follows the Third Quarter, which
+is much the same as the First Quarter.
+
+You know that the rising and the setting of the Moon in our sky,
+by night or by day, are not real movements. They are only seeming
+movements, caused by our own Earth’s daily spinning on her axis.
+
+But these “Phases” as they are called--these changes in the shape and
+brightness of the Moon--are brought about by her own movements, as she
+travels round the Earth. She does not actually alter her shape: but
+she does actually alter her place in the sky, so that we get different
+views of her from week to week.
+
+The four weeks of the Moon’s phases are called a “Lunar Month.”
+
+You can make clear to your mind how the changes come about, by acting
+them out with a lamp and a big ball.
+
+There must be no other light in the room.
+
+Stand first with your back to the lamp and the ball in your hand, held
+out at arm’s length: so that your head is _nearly between the lamp
+and_ _the ball_. Not quite between, so as to shade the ball. Hold the
+ball just a little higher than your head: and the lamplight will fall
+upon that side of it which is towards your face.
+
+Then you have Full Moon. The lamp is the Sun: your head is our Earth:
+the ball is the Moon. You see how the lamp lights up the half of the
+ball which is towards yourself.
+
+Next turn round with your face to the lamp, and hold the ball at arm’s
+length _between your head and the lamp_, only a little higher or
+lower--not quite in the line between so as to hide the lamp from you.
+The lamp-light now falls on the other side of the ball; and the dull
+unlighted side is towards your face.
+
+This is New Moon. Once again the lamp is the Sun, your head is the
+Earth, and the ball is the Moon. You see how the lamp lights that half
+of the ball which is turned away from you.
+
+The real New Moon in the sky is invisible. Here you can see the dark
+side of the ball because the lamplight creeps round it. Still even here
+you will find a difference between the bright and the shaded parts.
+
+Then, if you hold the ball at arm’s length half-way round on one
+side of your head, you will see how matters are at the Quarters. The
+lamp still shines full on one side of the ball, but only half of the
+brighter side is towards you, and half of the darker side. In the
+real Moon the shaded quarter would be hidden, and only the bright
+quarter would be visible.
+
+[Illustration: _The Moon. Third quarter. 16¾ days old._]
+
+This “quarter” we call “a Half Moon.” It is a quarter of the whole
+Moon, taking the Moon all round; but it is a half of the bright side,
+which makes our Full Moon.
+
+All that we really know about the Moon’s surface is what we see on one
+side of her. The other side is never turned towards us. No man on this
+Earth has ever seen it.
+
+A man living on that side of the Moon which we can see might look
+at all parts of the Earth in turn. As the Earth spins on her axis
+she turns each side towards the Moon, one after another, in only
+twenty-four hours. But, although the moon spins, we see only and always
+one side of her.
+
+If somebody should make his home on the farther side of the Moon, and
+should never come round to the nearer side, he would not have a glimpse
+of the Earth. He would see the Sun, because the Sun shines on each part
+of the Moon in turn: but no Earth would be on his sky. One side of the
+Moon has a magnificent Moon in the Earth, more than a dozen times as
+large as our Moon. But the opposite side of the Moon has only starlight
+when the sun sets.
+
+The reason for this is that the Moon takes just exactly the same
+length of time to spin once round on her axis that she takes to travel
+once round the world: twenty-eight days for the one and twenty-eight
+days for the other.
+
+Suppose now that you choose to walk round and round a table with a lamp
+in the middle. You may do it in three different ways.
+
+First: you may spin fast on your feet, like a teetotum, as you go. Each
+spin of your body may perhaps take a second; and passing slowly round
+the table may last half-a-minute. As you thus move, each side of your
+head in turn is towards the lamp with every spin.
+
+Secondly, you may pass slowly round the table in the same manner; not
+spinning at all but keeping your face fixed on one direction--let us
+say, towards the fireplace end of the room. Then again, as you move,
+each part of your head in turn will be towards the lamp.
+
+Thirdly: you may pass round the table turning very gradually indeed
+upon your feet as you go, turning so slowly that a single spin will
+last exactly as long as one journey round the table. If you start with
+your face towards the lamp you will continue to face it all the while,
+and the back of your head will all the while be away from the lamp, in
+shadow. In fact, the lamp will never once have a glimpse of the back of
+your head.
+
+[Illustration: _The Moon. Last quarter. 23⅓ days old._]
+
+The last of these three is the manner in which the Moon spins on her
+axis and travels round our Earth.
+
+Such a slow spin brings about a curious state of things. We on the
+Earth have day and night in every twenty-four hours; but the Moon’s day
+and night come only once in every twenty-eight days. The day there is a
+whole fortnight in length of our Earth-time: and the night is another
+whole fortnight.
+
+Fourteen days of blazing sunshine: then fourteen days of pitchy
+darkness--except for the brightness of the Stars, and except also, on
+one side, for the beautiful radiance of the Earth.
+
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+ 1. What is meant by the Moon’s Phases?
+
+The different shapes of the Moon as we see her in the sky.
+
+ 2. What kind of shapes?
+
+As Full Moon; as Half Moon; as Crescent Moon.
+
+ 3. Which part of the Moon shines?
+
+That side which is turned towards the Sun.
+
+ 4. Do we ever see her dark side?
+
+Sometimes, not far from New Moon, we have a glimpse of it, lighted up
+by Earth-shine very dimly.
+
+ 5. Does the Moon spin on her axis?
+
+Yes; but very slowly, only once in twenty-eight days.
+
+ 6. How long does it take the Moon to get once round the Earth?
+
+Twenty-eight days; the same length of time as her spin.
+
+ 7. How long is the Moon’s day?
+
+About one fortnight of Earth-time.
+
+ 8. How long is the Moon’s night?
+
+About another fortnight.
+
+ 9. Does the Sun shine on all parts of the Moon?
+
+On all parts in turn, as the Moon slowly spins round.
+
+ 10. Do we see all parts of the Moon?
+
+We see only one side, because, as the Moon spins, she journeys round
+the Earth just so fast as to keep one face always in our direction.
+
+ 11. What is meant by Full Moon?
+
+At Full Moon the Earth is between Sun and Moon, and we have our best
+view of the full round face of the Moon.
+
+ 12. Is the Earth exactly between?
+
+Not quite, or she would cut off the sunlight from the Moon.
+
+ 13. What is New Moon?
+
+At New Moon the Moon is between Earth and Sun, so that her bright side
+is away from us and we cannot see her at all.
+
+ 14. Tell me about the First and Third Quarters.
+
+The Moon is then at the side of the Earth, half-way between New and
+Full. Half only of her bright side is towards us and we see her as
+“Half Moon.”
+
+ 15. What is a Lunar Month?
+
+A month of four weeks--the time of the Moon’s changes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE MOON THROUGH A TELESCOPE.
+
+
+You know how the Moon looks, seen only with our own eyes--a bright
+round ball, some would say a bright round plate, with odd gray markings
+which might mean anything. This is about all that can be learned
+without the help of a telescope. But with the help of a telescope much
+more can be found out as to our little sister-world.
+
+For a very long while there were no telescopes. Galileo, a famous man,
+who lived nearly three hundred years ago, was the first who ever made
+a telescope. Since his time men have learned to make far bigger and
+better ones; but it was he who discovered how to make one at all.
+
+The Moon, as you know, is really about 240,000 miles away. A good
+telescope, such as one may often see, lessens that distance to only
+one thousand or perhaps to five hundred miles. One enormous telescope
+in California brings the Moon to less than one hundred miles off--some
+even say to not much more than fifty miles.
+
+You must not suppose this to mean that the telescope pulls the Moon
+herself nearer. A tube on earth cannot reach forth and drag towards us
+a far-off world in the sky.
+
+Did you ever hear of the Irishman who was allowed to look through a
+telescope at a church in the distance, and who declared afterwards that
+the church had been brought so near he could hear the organ play!
+
+But this is just what a telescope is _not_ able to do. It does not
+bring a church nearer. It does not bring the Moon nearer. It only makes
+our eyes able to see _as if_ the church or the Moon were nearer. That
+is all.
+
+It gathers up a great deal more moonlight than our eyes could collect,
+and so it gives us a larger and clearer view of the Moon from which the
+light comes.
+
+Yet even at the very best, when the moon is brought, as one may say,
+within perhaps a hundred miles of the Earth, even then one can only see
+large things on her surface, not small things. A man who climbs a high
+mountain gets a wide view all round from the top. He may see perhaps
+a hundred miles in one direction. But at that distance, and at a good
+deal less than that distance, he cannot make out much. A mountain or a
+high hill is pretty clear, perhaps, or the glimmer of a big lake, and
+a large town would be just visible as a tiny patch or spot. A single
+house could not be seen at all; far less a horse or a man.
+
+However, though we could not possibly see such small things as these
+upon the Moon if they were there, we are very sure that no houses _are_
+there, and no horses, and no men.
+
+And the reason why we are so sure is that the Moon has no air.
+
+A man cannot live without air, because he cannot breathe. Try holding
+your breath for a little while and you will find how soon you must
+begin breathing again. If there were no air in your room you would soon
+die of suffocation. Animals cannot live without air. Even fishes need
+air in the water to keep them alive. And it seems that there is neither
+air nor water in the Moon.
+
+No air: or almost none; if any at all, it is so very thin that no
+living creature on earth could breathe it. No water; no seas or oceans;
+no rivers and streams. No clouds; for clouds are made of water and
+float in air. No grass, or plants, or trees; for they too must have air
+and water. No towns or villages; for they are built by man, and no men
+can be on the Moon, or women or children. What a dreary place the Moon
+must be!
+
+It looks dreary seen through a big telescope. It looks dreary also in a
+photograph. Many photographs are now taken of the Moon.
+
+Such a wild lonely scene we find! Flat desolate plains, and mountains
+with sharp black shadows and clefts and streaks, and a great number of
+craters in all directions.
+
+You have heard of volcanoes on the Earth. A volcano is a mountain,
+shaped usually something like a sugar-loaf, with a cup-like hollow near
+the top. This hollow is called a _crater_: and now and then fire pours
+from it, with melted burning rocks, or boiling mud, or hot cinders.
+
+In parts of the world there are old used-up volcanoes, which once were
+very active indeed but which now have no outbreaks. We call these dead
+volcanoes.
+
+The Moon seems to be half covered with the craters of volcanoes. That
+side which we always see is pitted over with round holes, big and
+little--looking in parts almost like a face badly marked with small-pox.
+
+If all these holes really are craters they must belong to _dead_
+volcanoes; because not a sign is ever observed of any fiery outburst on
+the Moon. That could easily be seen through a large telescope.
+
+These craters are of all sizes: and many of them have been measured
+from the earth.
+
+The largest volcano-crater known on the earth is perhaps not more than
+eight or ten miles across. On the moon there are numbers and numbers of
+little craters about that size, too many to count. But there are also
+many huge craters, far bigger than anything of the kind ever seen here.
+
+Some of the Moon mountains are very high, a good deal higher than Mont
+Blanc in Switzerland; and they often lie in vast rocky heights around
+some enormous crater. Such craters are to be seen fifty miles across
+from edge to edge, and some a hundred miles across, and even more.
+These monster craters make our little Earth craters seem very small; do
+they not?
+
+In a photograph of the Moon’s surface, taken when she is at her First
+or Last Quarter, the steep mountains and great craters often stand
+out very clearly. Of course they do not _look_ large to us at this
+distance, but quite small.
+
+If there were air on the moon her sharp outline and the mountain edges
+would be much softer than they are now.
+
+The Moon must be a very, very cold world.
+
+True, she is no farther off from the Sun than we are, so his bright
+rays have the same strength there as here. But she has no thick
+coverlet of air wrapped round her, to act as a blanket and to keep in
+the heat which the Sun gives. That is what our air does for us: and
+that is what the Moon lacks.
+
+Through the long fortnight of darkness, on the side of the Moon which
+is turned away from the Sun, the cold must be perfectly awful. But
+even during the long fortnight of day-time following, when that part of
+the Moon which has been in darkness gets round into sunlight, things
+are not much better.
+
+The Sun indeed beats down upon the Moon with frightful power, and with
+a desperate glare such as we never know on the Earth. For the same
+air which keeps prisoner the warmth of the sunbeams for our use also
+softens their glare. But in spite of all this it is likely that the
+Moon’s surface never gets warm--that in the noon of her long day the
+ground is far more than ice-cold.
+
+On a high mountain-top of the Earth, where the air is thin, although
+the glare of the Sun becomes fierce yet the ice and snow are not
+melted. A little thawing of the outermost snow takes place, but often
+no more than this. When the sun shines through air which is too thin to
+capture and store up his heat, then he is quite overmatched by the grip
+of King Frost.
+
+If this is so on the Earth how much more is it likely to be so on the
+Moon. At the top of the highest Earth mountain there is still a good
+deal of air, enough for a man to breathe. But on the Moon there is no
+air at all worth speaking of; not enough to keep alive any creature of
+which we know.
+
+So, though the Sun does his best, though he floods the Moon with his
+warmth, all the heat is poured out again just as fast as he pours it
+in. For want of a sheltering air-coverlet the ground there may remain,
+and doubtless does remain, ice-cold through all the long Moon-day.
+
+We do not on the Earth see the Stars in daylight. The same thick air
+which keeps us warm also spreads the sunlight about, and softens black
+shadows into gray, and turns the sky into a blue depth, and shuts off
+from our sight the feeble glimmer of stars, and carries to and fro the
+clouds and mists.
+
+But on the Moon there is no air to form a veil of light; no air to
+cause a blue sky; no air to spread the sunlight about; no air to make
+inky shadows gray; no air to carry clouds or mists; no air to hide the
+stars.
+
+There, in the day-time, in a cloudless deep-black sky shines a dazzling
+Sun. Not only a Sun, but also a magnificent Earth, hanging like an
+enormous Moon always in one spot. And not only Sun and Earth, but also
+countless brilliant Stars, steadfast and untwinkling.
+
+This is a view which a man might have if he could stand on the nearer
+side of the Moon.
+
+The Sun which he would see would be our Sun. The stars would be the
+same stars upon which we gaze. The Earth in his sky would be this
+world upon which we live. He would see a glorious sight; of that we may
+be sure. But though our thick moist air does hide the stars by day, and
+make them twinkle and grow dim by night, think how one would miss the
+blue sky, and all the pretty changeful clouds which come and go!
+
+Think, too, how dismal a scene it would be around a man standing there!
+Nothing but dead craters, and bare rocks, and plains without any grass
+or water, and mountains without any trees. Nothing green, nothing blue,
+nothing soft or fair, no breaking waves, no trickling streams, no
+passing showers, no colors, no sounds!
+
+Do you think you would like such a world to live in, even if you
+_could_ live there without any air to breathe? I am very sure that you
+would soon wish to be back again on our beautiful Earth.
+
+If you were there, you would find one more thing different from what it
+is here: you would become all at once a great deal lighter in your body.
+
+Just as the Earth pulls everything towards herself so does the Moon
+also. The mountains and rocks on the moon are dragged moonwards, just
+as mountains and rocks on the Earth are dragged earthwards. But the
+pulling there is much less than here, because the Moon is so much
+smaller than the Earth.
+
+On the surface of the Moon, _downwards_ is always towards the centre of
+the Moon and _upwards_ is always towards the sky. All round the Moon it
+is the same; just as it is on the Earth.
+
+The Moon in our sky is _upwards_ to us who live on the Earth. But the
+Earth in the Moon’s sky would be _upwards_ to anybody living on the
+Moon.
+
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+ 1. Who made the first telescope?
+
+Galileo.
+
+ 2. How long ago?
+
+Nearly three hundred years ago.
+
+ 3. How near does the biggest telescope seem to bring the Moon?
+
+Perhaps to less than one hundred miles.
+
+ 4. Could a man live on the Moon?
+
+No; because there is neither air nor water.
+
+ 5. No air at all?
+
+There may be a very, very little; but much too little for men or
+animals to breathe.
+
+ 6. What can be seen of the Moon through a telescope?
+
+Mountains and plains; and a great number of hollows or craters.
+
+ 7. How high are the mountains?
+
+Some are higher than Mont Blanc.
+
+ 8. What are the craters?
+
+They are thought to be most likely the craters of dead volcanoes.
+
+ 9. What shape are they?
+
+Generally more or less round.
+
+ 10. Are they large or small?
+
+Some are small, only a few miles across. Others are very big.
+
+ 11. How big are the larger ones?
+
+Some are even a hundred miles across.
+
+ 12. Is the surface of the Moon hot, or cold?
+
+It is believed to be very cold.
+
+ 13. In the night, or in the day?
+
+In the day as well as in the night; because there is no air to keep in
+the Sun’s heat, as on the Earth.
+
+ 14. What other difference would the want of air make?
+
+The sky must be black instead of blue, and the stars must be visible
+in daylight, and the shadows of the mountains must be very black, not
+gray, like shadows on the Earth.
+
+ 15. Are things heavy on the Moon?
+
+Yes; but not so heavy as on the Earth. Though the Moon pulls, she pulls
+less strongly than the Earth, because she is so much smaller.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE SUN BY DAY.
+
+
+If you look at the Sun in our sky before he sets, and then, a little
+later, at the Moon when she has risen, it might seem that the two are
+very much of the same size and very much at the same distance.
+
+To be sure, the Sun is the brightest; a great deal the brightest. He
+has such a dazzling face that you cannot look at him steadily. But
+certainly he does not look larger than the Moon.
+
+What do you think the size of the Sun really and truly is?
+
+Once upon a time people supposed him to be about as big as he looked.
+And afterwards they fancied that perhaps he might be even as large as a
+little country called Greece, a much smaller country than England.
+
+But the Sun is bigger than England, bigger than America, bigger than
+all the oceans of the Earth heaped together; bigger than the Moon,
+bigger than the whole Earth, bigger than Earth and Moon rolled into
+one--oh, we are a long way off yet from the truth!
+
+The Sun is a round globe in shape, like the Earth and the Moon. But he
+is ever so much larger.
+
+Our Moon, as you know, is about two thousand miles through from side
+to side. Our Earth is nearly eight thousand miles through. But that
+enormous globe, the Sun, is--how much do you guess?--is about _eight
+hundred and fifty thousand miles through_!
+
+Can you picture to yourself what this means? Rather hard, is it not!
+
+The Earth seems so big to us who live upon its surface, and yet she is
+so small beside the great Sun!
+
+Suppose you had a huge hollow ball the size of the Sun. And suppose
+you wished to run through that hollow ball a very, very long
+knitting-needle--eight hundred and fifty thousand miles long--so as
+just to go from side to side of the huge ball. And suppose upon that
+big knitting-needle you wished to string a great many Earths or Moons,
+exactly like our Earth or our Moon, as large beads might be strung
+close together upon a wire.
+
+How many worlds, the size of our Earth, do you think you would need to
+reach all through the Sun from side to side? And how many worlds the
+size of our Moon?
+
+You would want more than one hundred Earths. And if, instead of Earths,
+you chose to string Moons on the big needle, you would need more than
+four hundred Moons.
+
+These would not fill up the enormous hollow ball. They would only reach
+through in one straight line from side to side, showing the _diameter_
+of the Sun.
+
+Now try again to think of the Moon as a tiny ball, softly bright on one
+side, only one inch through; and of the Earth as another ball, shining
+on one side, four inches through. Think of them, if you like, as a
+large grape and a small cocoa-nut made of silver.
+
+Then take the same measure for the Sun, letting one little inch do duty
+always for two thousand miles. The Sun must dwindle and dwindle in size
+till every two thousand miles in him has become a single inch.
+
+We shall then have a huge ball, or balloon, four hundred and twenty-six
+inches, or some _thirty-five feet_, through, from side to side.
+
+Thirty-five feet is a great deal more than four inches. _One_ foot is
+twelve inches long.
+
+You have seen many a tall man close upon six feet in height. This
+balloon, to picture the Sun, must be so large that six tall men might
+be put inside it, one upon the head of another. The whole string of six
+tall men would about make the through measure of the globe.
+
+So we have a Moon the size of a large grape, an Earth the size of
+a small cocoa-nut, and a Sun the size of a balloon big enough to
+contain six men in a long row, one upon another. The two little balls
+would shine softly, on one side only; but the large balloon should be
+exceedingly brilliant and dazzling all round.
+
+If the Moon is so tiny and the Sun is so huge, how is it that they seem
+to be the same size in our sky?
+
+Because of the very great difference in their distance from us. The
+Moon is near; the Sun is far away.
+
+Suppose you are looking at a man near at hand and at a house miles
+away; which seems to you the bigger? Of course the man, because he is
+so close. Yet really the house is much the larger of the two.
+
+The Moon is only about two hundred and forty thousand miles off; but
+the Sun is about ninety-two millions of miles away.
+
+Think what a difference! Two hundred and forty thousands are only a
+small part of a single million; for a million is a thousand thousands.
+If you have one thousand beads in a heap, you would need one thousand
+of those heaps to make a million beads. And when you get to the idea
+of what is meant by a million, you have to remember that the Sun’s
+distance is ninety-two times _that_ number of miles.
+
+After all, we cannot comprehend these figures; they are too
+bewildering. We may talk of thousands and millions of miles, but we do
+not _see_ them in our minds.
+
+The chief thing to do is to gain some notion of one distance side by
+side with another: and here the three balls all help us again.
+
+Picture to yourself the tiny Moon-ball, as big as a large grape, and
+the Earth-ball, as big as a small cocoa-nut; and in your mind put the
+two _ten feet_ apart. There you have the sizes and the distance of the
+Earth and the Moon brought down from thousands of miles to inches.
+
+Then picture to yourself the Sun, as big as a balloon--the length of
+six tall men through its middle--and in your mind put that balloon
+_three quarters of a mile_ away from the small Earth and Moon. Somebody
+will tell you of a house or a place about three-quarters of a mile away
+from your house, if you ask.
+
+Now do you see how great the difference is between the distance of the
+Sun from us and the distance of the Moon?
+
+Close upon four thousand feet off, instead of only ten feet off!
+Almost thirteen hundred yards, instead of a little over three yards!
+Ninety-two millions of miles, instead of two hundred and forty thousand
+miles!
+
+The _kind_ or _quantity_ of difference between the two is the same,
+whether we reckon it in inches or feet, in yards or miles, in hundreds,
+or thousands, or millions of miles.
+
+The Moon and Sun are quite unlike in their way of shining.
+
+Our little Moon has no brightness of her own. She only shines when and
+where the Sun shines upon her.
+
+But the radiance of the Sun is his own; it is a part of himself. He
+shines because it is _in_ him to shine; it is his nature to shine. He
+is brilliant all round, not on one side only. If the Sun were destroyed
+the Moon would shine no longer. But if the Moon and the Earth and
+all the Planets came to an end it would make no difference in the
+brightness of the Sun.
+
+The Sun’s shining is like the shining of the Stars, not like that of
+the Earth and the Moon: for the Sun himself is a Star; one Star among
+millions of Stars. He only looks so much larger and brighter than other
+Stars because he is so much nearer than they are.
+
+Our Earth and Moon are not stars; they are planets, or worlds,
+travelling round the Sun, and belonging to him. They are not hot
+bodies, glowing with their own light; but cool and dark bodies,
+bright only when the Sun shines on them. Moonlight, and also
+Earthlight--which we, living on the Earth, cannot see--are both really
+reflected Sunlight.
+
+There are other planets also, besides the Earth and the Moon, belonging
+to the Sun: such as Venus, and Mars, and Jupiter. None of these planets
+are Stars. They are all Worlds.
+
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+ 1. What shape is the Sun?
+
+Like the Earth and the Moon, a globe or sphere in shape.
+
+ 2. What is the Sun’s diameter?
+
+The Sun is about 850,000 miles through.
+
+ 3. Why do the Sun and Moon seem about the same size in our sky?
+
+Because the Moon is very near, and the Sun very distant.
+
+ 4. How far off is the Sun?
+
+About 92 millions of miles.
+
+ 5. What would be the sizes of these three globes, if we let one inch
+ stand for 2,000 miles?
+
+The Moon would be a ball one inch in diameter; the Earth a ball four
+inches in diameter; the Sun a ball thirty-five feet in diameter.
+
+ 6. What would be their distances, brought down thus?
+
+The Moon would be about ten feet off from the Earth, and the Sun would
+be about three-quarters of a mile from them both.
+
+ 7. How many thousands of miles make a million miles?
+
+A thousand thousands.
+
+ 8. How does the Moon shine?
+
+By reflecting Sunlight.
+
+ 9. How does the Sun shine?
+
+By his own brightness.
+
+ 10. Which part of Moon and Sun are bright?
+
+The Moon, like the Earth, is bright only on that side which faces the
+Sun; but the Sun is brilliant all round.
+
+ 11. Is the Sun a World?
+
+No, the Sun is a Star.
+
+ 12. Are the Planets Stars?
+
+No; the Planets, like Earth and Moon, are Worlds.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+STORMS ON THE SUN.
+
+
+The Sun does not seem to change his shape as the Moon does.
+
+Looking upon him from our Earth, we see always a round shining body.
+Except when part of him is hidden because it has sunk below the horizon
+we never have a “half-Sun,” or a “quarter-Sun.”
+
+Sometimes he is high and sometimes low in the sky; but this is brought
+about by the Earth’s movements, not by any alteration in himself.
+Sometimes clouds drift between and hide him from us; yet behind the
+clouds he shines still. Sometimes mists arise and dim his radiance; but
+beyond the mist his glory is the same. When clouds move on and mists
+fade, the dazzling globe of light is found unchanged.
+
+There are no shadows on the Sun, like those dull markings which we all
+know so well upon the Moon.
+
+No shadows, only spots. Yes, the Sun actually has little black spots
+upon his face, not so very unlike the tiny patches with which ladies
+used to adorn themselves.
+
+A word of warning here! It is not safe to gaze straight at the Sun,
+trying to find these spots. When he is low down in the horizon, just
+before setting, he is not so dazzling, but at other times one ought to
+be very careful. If you want to look steadily at the Sun you should
+always use a piece of smoked or tinted glass to soften the glare.
+Without this you might hurt your eyes, or even in time make yourself
+blind. When looking through a telescope the danger and the need for
+care are doubly great.
+
+Dark spots on the Sun are very often to be seen; sometimes only through
+a telescope, but now and then one is large enough to be seen with no
+such help--by the eye alone.
+
+It was by means of these spots that the Sun was first found to spin
+upon its axis, just as our Earth does.
+
+A black spot would be noticed upon one side of the Sun’s face. It would
+be seen slowly to cross over, and to disappear on the other side.
+Nearly a fortnight would be needed for the journey across, and for
+another fortnight, or nearly so, the spot would be hidden behind the
+Sun. After which it would turn up again, on the same side as at first,
+and in the very same place. Then once more it would travel across and
+disappear, and in another fortnight it would come round over to its
+starting-point.
+
+If only a single spot had behaved in this way it might have meant
+little. But when numbers of spots did the very same thing, time after
+time, it became clear that the great body of the sun was whirling
+round, carrying the spots with it.
+
+The Sun, like the Earth, has a north pole, and a south pole, and an
+equator.
+
+We give the name “north pole” to one end of the axis or line on which
+he spins, and the name “south pole” to the other end of that axis. And
+we give the name “equator” to a line exactly round the middle of the
+Sun, half-way between his two poles.
+
+Most of the spots which we see are somewhere near the Sun’s equator,
+not very near to his north pole or to his south pole.
+
+They come and go and change their shapes, and get bigger or
+smaller--sometimes slowly, sometimes very fast. A spot may appear and
+grow and vanish again in one day, or it may stay on for days and weeks,
+and even months, hardly altering at all, only journeying round and
+round the Sun.
+
+These things show us that the great Sun spins round upon his axis: and
+that for each spin he takes about twenty-five or twenty-six days.
+
+But the whirling round of the Sun means no Day and Night by turns to
+him, for the whole of the Sun is always light--bright with his own
+radiance.
+
+Once upon a time it used to be thought that the Sun spots were perhaps
+_raised_ things--dark objects standing high, like mountains. And I will
+tell you why this idea was given up.
+
+Take an empty cup, and hold it before your eyes, with the open part
+turned full towards you. The cup must be held as if lying on its
+side--not with the mouth upwards, as it would stand on a table. You can
+see, thus, the full circle of the opening, and the whole empty inside.
+
+Next, move it a little way to the right from before your face, turning
+it slightly away, and you will then see no longer the whole inside, but
+only a part: and the round opening will have an oval look.
+
+Turn it still further, and you will see a very narrow oval opening, and
+hardly any of the inside.
+
+Now this is just how the spots seem to behave as they cross the Sun.
+
+When first seen, coming round on one side, they are in shape, more or
+less, of narrow ovals, and very little of the inside can be seen. As
+they travel on with the spinning Sun, and get near the middle of the
+Sun’s face, the oval openings widen and grow round, while more of the
+dark depths can be seen. Then, passing to the farther edge, they again
+grow narrow, as at first.
+
+So we feel sure that the spots are hollows or caves, not mountains.
+
+I do not mean such hollows and caves as are found on the earth, but
+more like the holes that may be seen in a mass of stormy clouds. They
+seem to be huge rents in glowing Sun-clouds. Usually they have a black
+centre, with a gray border round the blackness. Now and then, as in the
+picture of a sun-spot given in this book, the gray part is wanting.
+
+Sun-spots are sometimes larger, sometimes smaller; but none that we see
+at this distance can be really small. Fifty or sixty thousand miles
+across is a very common size. Once in a while a spot is more than a
+hundred thousand miles from edge to edge.
+
+So, though we talk of _little_ black spots on the Sun’s face, they are
+not really little, but exceedingly big. And if we were near they would
+not look black, but fiery.
+
+The Moon’s craters seemed big when we first thought of them--fifty or
+one hundred miles across; very huge beside our tiny Earth craters.
+These crater-like hollows, however, in the Sun’s cloudy surface are
+fifty or one hundred _thousand_ miles across! The whole Moon dropped
+into such a hole as this would be a mere little ball in a corner.
+
+The Sun is enormously heavier than our Earth, because enormously
+bigger. Yet in actual _make_ the Sun is light. Instead of being all
+through as solid as our little Earth, he only weighs as much as if made
+of something not much heavier than water.
+
+We do not know whether any part of the Sun is really solid and firm.
+Perhaps not even the innermost parts of that vast globe, certainly not
+any of the outermost parts. For the heat must be so awful as to turn
+everything there into gases. Not cool gases, but raging fiery gases,
+rushing furiously to and fro.
+
+Over the whole brilliant body of the Sun is spread a mighty ocean--not
+of cool water, like our seas, but of crimson fiery gas-waves. And out
+of this ocean spring crimson mountains of fiery gas. And beyond these
+jagged mountains--little, as seen from the Earth, but really of great
+height--lies a beautiful and wide-spreading wreath of pearly light,
+called “The Corona,” or, “The Crown.”
+
+The bright face of the Sun and its tiny black spots can be easily seen
+from the Earth. But the crimson sea, showing as a red border round the
+edge, and the fiery mountains, and the crown of light, are very seldom
+to be seen.
+
+When an eclipse of the Sun happens, then for a few seconds they are
+clearly visible to people with telescopes.
+
+Besides the black spots and the red mountains, bright white spots are
+sometimes noticed.
+
+Also another curious sight is often seen, in a telescope. Countless
+little long narrow objects, something like willow leaves or grains of
+rice, seem to lie scattered closely over the sun. They are either side
+by side or crossing one another. Look at the picture of the sun-spot,
+and you will see the “willow leaves” there. Perhaps they are shining
+sun-clouds.
+
+Awful storms are common on the Sun, and terrific outbreaks are often
+taking place. Wild rushes of blazing gases can be seen, even from
+this great distance. The black spots are most likely caused by vast
+whirlwinds tearing open the Sun’s bright envelope of clouds; and the
+white spots may be another kind of tornado.
+
+Doubtless the crimson fire-mountains are also some sort of storm. They
+come and go, change and disappear, in a longer or a shorter time. Fifty
+thousand miles of height is common for one of them, and a hundred
+thousand miles is not unusual, and often they are still more.
+
+Our very highest mountain on the Earth is only about seven miles high.
+Think what a difference!
+
+But you must not picture to yourself solid mountains of rock on the
+Sun. All rock there is not melted only, but turned to gases, by the
+tremendous heat. These crimson heights are of gases, glowing and
+brilliant.
+
+It is pretty safe to say of the Sun, as of the Moon, that people such
+as we are could not possibly live there. If the Moon is too cold,
+the Sun is infinitely too hot. If the Moon has no air, the Sun has
+certainly none of the right kind for men and animals to breathe.
+Besides, how could they exist on a globe of fiery gases?
+
+We know pretty well what the burning power of the Sun is, even here, on
+a hot summer’s day, as he shines out of a cloudless sky. But this is
+ninety-two millions of miles off!
+
+Imagine what the desperate heat and glare must be at a distance of only
+a few thousand miles; not to speak of close to the Sun!
+
+If our Earth were to journey to a place in the sky as far away from the
+Sun as our Moon is now from us, one of those fiery mountain-tongues
+of crimson gas might leap out and wrap itself round the whole Earth.
+But long before she could get so near she would have become a tomb of
+death--scorched, and dried up, and withered. The seas would all have
+turned into hot steam, and not a blade of grass would be left.
+
+Yet, although, if we could venture near, we should be destroyed, on
+the other hand we owe much to the Sun. Did you ever think what a dark
+and cold and lifeless globe our Earth would be without him?
+
+All our light, except a few star-glimmers, comes from the Sun. Even
+moonlight is really reflected sunlight.
+
+Almost all our heat comes from him. Once upon a time the Earth was hot
+and glowing, and some heat still remains deep underground even now. But
+this heat could do little for us if the Sun were absent. You know how
+icy-cold the ground becomes in winter.
+
+Still, you may say, we have fires to warm us, and lamps and candles to
+give us light.
+
+But how could we have either without the Sun? His rays cause the trees
+to grow from which we obtain our wood. His warmth in the long past made
+those forests grow which were afterwards buried under ground and became
+coal. When we burn coal and wood they give out again the heat which
+once they borrowed from the Sun.
+
+Without the Sun there could be no oil for lamps, no tallow or wax for
+candles. Nothing would live, nothing would grow. Our Earth would be a
+dead world like the Moon, fixed and changeless.
+
+True, the Sun shines upon the Moon as upon us; and there he can do
+little, because air and water are wanting. _With_ air and water for
+his useful servants he can do much. But air and water without the Sun
+could do nothing at all--in fact they would be air and water no longer.
+
+So we can trace gratefully to the Sun all the heat, the glow, the
+light, the life, the growth, that we find on Earth. And one step
+farther brings us to the thought of OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN, who created
+the Sun, and who appointed it to be our storehouse of Heat and Light.
+
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+ 1. Has the Sun phases like the moon?
+
+No, he always appears round in shape.
+
+ 2. Has the Sun gray markings?
+
+No, but he has dark spots.
+
+ 3. Are the spots large, or small?
+
+They seem small to us at this distance, but they are really large.
+
+ 4. What size are they?
+
+Fifty thousand miles across, or a hundred thousand miles across, are
+not uncommon.
+
+ 5. How was the Sun first found to spin round?
+
+By the movement of spots across his face, from one side to the other.
+
+ 6. What is the length of the Sun’s spin?
+
+He spins on his axis once in about 25 or 26 days.
+
+ 7. Where are spots more often seen?
+
+Not far from the Sun’s equator.
+
+ 8. Do the spots remain long?
+
+A spot sometimes comes and goes in one day. Other spots stay for weeks,
+and even months.
+
+ 9. What are the spots believed to be?
+
+Holes torn by storms in the Sun’s covering of bright clouds.
+
+ 10. Is any other kind of storm seen on the Sun?
+
+Sometimes white spots are seen.
+
+ 11. Is the Sun heavy in make, or light?
+
+Not much heavier than water.
+
+ 12. What can be seen in an eclipse which is not seen usually?
+
+A crimson ocean of gases, mountains of fiery gases, and the “Corona,”
+or Crown of light.
+
+ 13. How high are the gas-mountains?
+
+Sometimes fifty thousand or a hundred thousand miles high.
+
+ 14. Are they always the same?
+
+No; they come and go and change, like the black spots.
+
+ 15. Is it likely that men could live on the Sun?
+
+It seems quite impossible, the sun being in a state of raging heat.
+
+ 16. Do we owe much to the Sun?
+
+All our light and heat. Without the Sun our world would be a dead
+world.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+HOW THE WORLD JOURNEYS.
+
+
+You see now how it is that on the Earth we have day and night. The
+whole Earth spins round and round, and so each part of her in turn
+comes into sunlight.
+
+This is not the only way in which our Earth moves. She also journeys
+round and round the Sun, revolving always on her axis every day as she
+goes.
+
+A year on the Earth is about three hundred and sixty-five days long,
+or twelve months. Our “year” means just that time in which the Earth
+travels once round the Sun. And in that year, as she journeys, she
+turns right round upon her axis three hundred and sixty-five times.
+
+So there are two separate movements of the Earth. A boy may, if he
+likes, stand still, and spin round like a top. Or he may walk round the
+table without spinning. Or he may do the two things together: he may
+walk round the table, and as he goes he may keep spinning like a top.
+That is how the Earth goes round the Sun.
+
+As she moves she is always at much the same distance from the
+Sun--about 92 millions of miles off. In one part of her pathway she is
+a little farther, and in another part a little nearer; but there is
+never very much difference.
+
+Sometimes she is on one side of the Sun, sometimes on another side.
+Always, day after day, and year after year, she keeps steadily
+journeying round and round the Sun.
+
+This is how we get our seasons upon Earth. Spring is followed by
+summer, summer by autumn, autumn by winter, winter by spring again. It
+is on and on, the same thing, year after year.
+
+In an earlier chapter you heard about the Equinoxes and the Solstices.
+There is an Equinox in the spring, a Solstice in the summer, an Equinox
+in the autumn, and a Solstice in the winter. At each of these times the
+Earth is in a different part of her pathway round the Sun. Also she is
+differently _placed_.
+
+It is of course quite clear to you by this time that our Earth is a
+round solid globe in the sky. Also that the axis of the Earth is a
+straight line from her north to her south pole, right through the
+middle of her.
+
+Now I want you to understand that, as the Earth goes round the Sun, her
+axis _leans over a_ _little_ in one direction, and always in the same
+direction.
+
+Have you a good-sized soft ball to picture the Earth? Stick a big
+bonnet-pin right through the middle of it; that pin is the Earth’s
+axis. The pin’s head shows the north pole, and the pin’s point shows
+the south pole.
+
+Properly, of course, if this little Earth is about four inches through
+in size, it ought to travel round and round a huge shining balloon,
+three-quarters of a mile off, to show how the Earth goes round the Sun.
+
+But this, I am afraid, you will hardly be able to manage. So you must
+let distances alone, and just have a candle or a lamp on a table, and
+learn with that how we get our summer and winter.
+
+First, now, hold the ball on one side of the candle. Let its north
+pole--the pin’s head--point in a sloping way _over_ the candle-flame;
+not exactly towards the candle, and not up straight towards the
+ceiling, but in a slant.
+
+This means Summer for the northern half of your little world, and
+Winter for the southern half. You must notice carefully how the north
+pole is towards the candle and the south pole is away from it. So, at
+the same time, we in the north have our Summer Solstice and people in
+the south have their Winter Solstice.
+
+Next, carry round your ball to the other side of the candle, just
+opposite to where you have been; but do not turn it in your hand as you
+go. The _slant_ or _lean_ of the pin must be the same; and the pin’s
+head must point still just where it pointed before. You will see now
+that the south pole is towards the candle, and the north pole is away
+from it.
+
+This means Summer for the southern half of your little world, and
+Winter for the northern half. So we in the north have our Winter
+Solstice while friends in the south have their Summer Solstice.
+
+Between Summer and Winter lie the Spring and the Autumn Equinoxes.
+
+For either of these you must carry your ball to one side of the candle,
+half-way between the summer place and the winter place. Your pin must
+still slant exactly as it did before, with no change in the direction
+of its head.
+
+You will then find neither north pole nor south pole towards the
+candle. The pin lies _sideways_ to it, and the candle-light falls on
+both poles alike. So here, as the Earth spins, days and nights are of
+just the same length; and this is one of the Equinoxes.
+
+Over the greater part of the Earth days and nights are always altering
+in length between the Spring Equinox and the Autumn Equinox. Days are
+getting longer and nights shorter; or nights are getting longer and
+days shorter.
+
+In the very far north, and in the very far south, near the poles,
+things are different. There, when the pole is turned towards the Sun,
+one full day lasts for months, with no sunset. And there, when the pole
+is turned away from the Sun, one full night lasts for months, with no
+sunrise.
+
+Some chapters back we were thinking about our Earth as she floats in
+the sky, with stars all around her everywhere. You heard how the stars
+seem to travel every night across the sky, and how this seeming journey
+of theirs is brought about by our own Earth’s daily spinning on her
+axis.
+
+The stars which we see in our sky are not exactly the same all the year
+round. Some are the same, but some are different. Fresh star-groups
+come into view in the evening at one time of the year, and vanish again
+at another time.
+
+This is because we can only see those stars which lie in a direction
+_away from the Sun_. It is impossible for us to see those which lie
+_beyond the Sun_; for they are above the horizon when he is above it,
+and their faint glimmers are quite hidden by his radiance.
+
+As we go round the Sun, we see him month by month in a fresh part of
+the sky, and behind him lie fresh star-groups. So our journey makes the
+Sun seem to move among the stars, and the Sun’s seeming pathway we call
+the Ecliptic.
+
+As the Earth travels, her north pole always points exactly in one
+direction--always _towards the Pole-star_.
+
+If a man were standing at the north pole and looking upwards, he would
+see the Pole-star always, at any hour of the night, in just the very
+same spot.
+
+When we think of our Earth as a globe floating in the sky, we must try
+to remember that in the Sky there is no real “up” or “down.” This you
+have heard before.
+
+Our “up” is always towards the sky, and away from the ground. But as
+the Earth turns round and round our “up” is every hour in a fresh
+direction.
+
+For the blue heaven is all around us, and from every part of the Earth
+we look up into the depths of the sky.
+
+We speak of some stars being in the “northern sky,” and of other stars
+being in the “southern sky.” For our own use we have given the name
+“northern sky” to one part of the heavens, and the name “southern sky”
+to another part.
+
+Only “north” does not mean up, and south does not mean “down.” The only
+true “up” for us is from any part of the Earth where we may be towards
+the sky over our heads, and the only true “down” is towards the middle
+of our Earth, under our feet.
+
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+ 1. What is a Year?
+
+The time that our Earth takes to journey round the Sun.
+
+ 2. How long is the Earth’s Year?
+
+Twelve months, or about 365 days.
+
+ 3. How many times does the Earth turn round on her axis in one Year?
+
+Three hundred and sixty-five times.
+
+ 4. What is meant by the Seasons?
+
+Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.
+
+ 5. How are the Seasons caused?
+
+The Earth travels round the Sun with her axis slanting.
+
+ 6. How does it slant?
+
+Always in one direction, with her north pole pointing to the Pole-star.
+
+ 7. What brings summer to us in the north?
+
+When the Earth is on one side of the Sun her north pole is towards the
+Sun, and the northern half of the Earth gets most of his heat and light.
+
+ 8. What brings winter to us?
+
+When the Earth gets round to the other side of the Sun her north pole
+is turned away from him, and so we in the north have less heat and
+light.
+
+ 9. Do they have summer and winter in the south of the world?
+
+The southern half of the world has summer when we have winter in the
+north, and winter when we have summer in the north.
+
+ 10. How is this?
+
+When the north pole is towards the Sun the south pole is turned away,
+and when the north pole is away from the Sun the south pole is towards
+him.
+
+ 11. When are the Equinoxes?
+
+In Spring and Autumn, half-way between Summer and Winter.
+
+ 12. In which part of the world is the Equinox?
+
+All over the world at once.
+
+ 13. Which pole is then turned towards the Sun?
+
+Neither pole. The Earth’s axis is then sideways to the Sun, and his
+light falls on north and south pole alike.
+
+ 14. What is the Ecliptic?
+
+The path which the Sun seems to take in the sky through one year.
+
+ 15. Where would a man at the north pole see the Pole-star?
+
+Always exactly overhead.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+OTHER WORLDS.
+
+
+Now for the Planets, or Worlds, which journey as our Earth journeys,
+round and round the Sun, each in its own particular pathway. And--to
+begin with--a few words as to what keeps them in their pathways.
+
+Two things working together do this. There is an inward pull, and there
+is also an outward pull.
+
+The inward pull is the pull of Attraction, known also as Gravitation.
+You have heard a little about Attraction before. You know how the Earth
+pulls, with a steady downward drag, everything upon her surface. And in
+just the very same manner the Sun pulls towards himself all the worlds,
+little or big, which float around him in the sky.
+
+When you try to jump up from the Earth you drop back. It is impossible
+for you to get right away, merely by jumping, because of the Earth’s
+strong pull.
+
+And if our Earth tries to get away from the Sun, she cannot do so
+either; because of the Sun’s strong pull. In fact she is always trying
+and never succeeds.
+
+She is always trying to get away because she is always on the rush;
+always hastening at a great speed, and struggling to go straight
+forward in her rush, while the pull of the Sun keeps drawing her out of
+a straight line and making her travel in a bent path round the Sun.
+
+If it were not for the Earth’s rapid onward movement she would soon
+fall down upon the Sun; and if it were not for the Sun’s pull she
+would soon wander away from him. These two things--the inward pull of
+the Sun’s attraction and the outward pull of our Earth’s own quick
+rush--keep her at her present distance from the Sun.
+
+It is the same with the other Planets. They too journey round the Sun
+in oval pathways. Those worlds which are nearer to him are pulled more
+strongly; and they have to fly along at a great speed, to escape from
+falling down upon his fiery surface. Those which are farther off are
+pulled more feebly; and they move at a much slower pace.
+
+When “attraction” is spoken of, remember that it is always a pull on
+both sides. The Earth attracts the Sun, as well as the Sun attracting
+the Earth; and all the Planets attract one another. But the pull of the
+Sun is so powerful that other pullings seem small by comparison.
+
+Our world is only one little planet in the great Kingdom of the Sun.
+That kingdom is commonly called “THE SOLAR SYSTEM.”
+
+A “system” means something which is arranged, or which is made up of
+different parts put together in an orderly manner. The word “solar” is
+from the Latin for “Sun.” So, by the Solar System we mean that great
+System or Arrangement of Worlds which is governed by the Sun.
+
+No two worlds are at the same distance from the Sun; but all the larger
+planets travel on very much the same _plane_--that is, on the same
+level, or the same _flat_, in the sky.
+
+Also, they all go the same way. They journey round the Sun from west to
+east; not from east to west.
+
+Astronomers have sometimes fancied that they could catch a glimpse of
+one small world very near to the Sun, which they named VULCAN. But it
+is very doubtful whether there really is any such planet at all. If
+there is, he is almost lost in the glare of the Sun.
+
+The nearest to the Sun of which we know positively is named MERCURY.
+
+He is much smaller than our world, though larger than our Moon; and he
+whirls along at a dizzy speed.
+
+Outside the pathway of Mercury, like a large hoop round a little one,
+only at a good distance off, lies the oval-shaped pathway of VENUS.
+
+Though we often speak carelessly of this lovely world as “The Evening
+Star,” Venus is no star, but a planet like the Earth, shining only in
+the Sun’s light. And, although perhaps not really brighter in herself
+than all other worlds, Venus is by far the brightest in our sky.
+
+Mercury’s pathway lies too close to the Sun to give us often very good
+views of him. Besides, Mercury is not only much smaller than Venus, but
+much farther away from us.
+
+That is to say, Mercury at his nearest is farther off from us than
+Venus at her nearest. When Mercury happens to be between the Sun and
+us, while Venus happens to be far away on the other side of the Sun,
+just then, of course, Mercury for a little while is the closer to us of
+the two.
+
+If you have three hoops of different sizes you will be able to see
+quite easily how this comes about.
+
+Lay the hoops on the floor, one within another, and place a ball in
+the middle for the Sun. Then lay one marble, for the Earth, close
+to the outermost and largest hoop, and another marble for Mercury,
+close to the innermost and smallest hoop, on the _same side_ as the
+Earth-marble. Then put a marble, for Venus, close to the middle-sized
+hoop, still on the same side.
+
+So the three worlds are all together on the same side, as near as they
+ever can come one to another. And you will see that Mercury can never
+get so close to the Earth as Venus can.
+
+But now, leaving the Earth and Mercury alone, move the Venus-marble
+half-way round its hoop, to just the opposite side of the Sun. You
+will then understand how sometimes, for a little while, Venus may be
+actually much farther off than Mercury from our Earth.
+
+These worlds all travel on different pathways at different speeds, and
+the pathways are not of the same length. So the worlds never keep long
+side by side. For a little while they may journey in company; then one
+gets ahead and the other drops behind. By-and-by they are on opposite
+sides of the Sun; and then in time they draw near one to another again.
+
+Both Mercury and Venus have _phases_, or seeming changes of shape, like
+our Moon. They shine only on one side, that side which is towards the
+Sun; and sometimes we see only part of the bright side, not the whole
+of it. But the changes are too small at such a distance to be seen
+without a telescope.
+
+Venus is very nearly the same size as our Earth. She lies farther from
+the Sun than Mercury, and nearer the Earth. This means that she has
+more light and more heat than we have, but less light and less heat
+than Mercury has. From Venus the Sun looks very much larger and more
+brilliant than we see him, yet much smaller and less brilliant than as
+seen from Mercury.
+
+Also, the Sun pulls Venus more strongly than he pulls the Earth, but
+less strongly than he pulls Mercury. Venus does not journey so fast as
+Mercury, but she goes farther than our Earth goes.
+
+You see how perfectly these things are all planned, so as just to fit
+in one with another. We may well talk of our Sun’s kingdom in the sky
+as a _System_, when we find its wonderful arrangements and note the
+order and beauty of the whole.
+
+The two inner worlds, Mercury and Venus, are called “Inferior Planets,”
+because they lie between the Earth and the Sun. All other worlds,
+having pathways outside our Earth’s pathway, are called “Superior
+Planets.”
+
+The next oval hoop which surrounds the pathway of Venus is that of THE
+EARTH.
+
+Outside the pathway of our Earth lies that of MARS: another world, a
+good deal smaller than the Earth or Venus, but larger than Mercury.
+
+Both Mercury and Venus can only be seen in the sky near to the Sun,
+either a short time before he rises in the morning, or not long after
+he sets in the evening--either towards the east in the morning, or
+towards the west in the evening. But Mars and all the other outer
+planets may be seen in various parts of the sky at different times.
+
+Of these four small Worlds our Earth is the largest, being nearly 8,000
+miles straight through from side to side.
+
+Venus is the next in size, being nearly as large as Earth.
+
+Mars is the next, being about 4,000 miles through.
+
+Mercury is the smallest, being less than 3,000 miles through.
+
+And our Moon, as you know, is smaller still, being only 2,000 miles
+through.
+
+Suppose we look upon these worlds, as we have done earlier, in a
+lessened size; letting one inch stand for 2,000 miles.
+
+Then to picture our Moon we should want a very large grape, or a small
+walnut, one inch through.
+
+Our Earth would be a very big apple, or a small cocoa-nut, four inches
+through.
+
+Venus would be another big apple, almost as large as the Earth.
+
+Mars might be a small orange, two inches through.
+
+Mercury might be a crab-apple, only one inch and a half straight
+through.
+
+If you can manage to find five balls of the right sizes, and put them
+all in a row, you will get a very fair idea of the sizes of these
+worlds, as _compared_ one with another.
+
+Try also to fix the names firmly in your memory, by saying them often
+over and over--“Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars.”
+
+Remember that “Earth” is the name of our world, just as “Venus” is the
+name of another world. All the planets are “worlds,” but only one of
+them is “Earth.”
+
+After Mars comes a wide space in the heavens, which for a long while
+was thought to be quite empty of worlds. But it is not empty. Instead
+of one big planet a great many tiny ones are there, journeying round
+the Sun in company. Nearly three hundred and fifty are known to us, and
+fresh ones are still often found.
+
+When first discovered, about one hundred years ago, these small
+worlds were named ASTEROIDS, or Little Stars. Now they are known as
+PLANETOIDS, or Little Planets. This is the right name for them, since
+they are not stars but planets, or worlds.
+
+Only they are very, very tiny worlds. The biggest of them all is under
+400 miles through; and most of them are much less. So if the Moon is
+pictured by a large grape, a pea would be far too big for most of the
+Planetoids.
+
+This belt of Planetoids comes after a broad gap of space, between it
+and Mars; and it is followed by another wide gap.
+
+Then we get to the pathway of JUPITER.
+
+Here indeed is a contrast. The Planetoids are the smallest worlds in
+the whole Polar System, and Jupiter is the largest. He is very, very
+far away; yet, as he shines in our sky, he is often the most splendid
+object we can see there, second only to Venus.
+
+Venus is very much _smaller_ than Jupiter; but Venus is also very much
+_nearer_ than Jupiter.
+
+Not one of all the other planets is as big as Jupiter. While our Earth
+is only eight thousand miles through, Jupiter is eighty-five thousand
+miles through. This makes a wonderful difference. Jupiter is very small
+beside the Sun, but he is very huge beside our little Earth.
+
+Jupiter’s speed is far slower than that of the inner planets. At his
+vast distance the pull of the Sun is much weaker, and so he does not go
+so fast.
+
+If Jupiter whirled round the Sun as fast as Mars does the Sun could not
+hold him in, and he would wander away and be lost. But if Mercury were
+to journey at Jupiter’s pace he could not keep away from the Sun, and
+he would, most likely, soon be destroyed.
+
+Jupiter does not travel alone. He has a family of moons; not one only,
+like our Earth, but five moons, the nearest of which has been quite
+lately found. These moons all journey with Jupiter round the Sun; and
+they also go round Jupiter as our Moon goes round the Earth.
+
+Beyond Jupiter, at a great distance, is another giant world, SATURN.
+Not quite so big as Jupiter, but not very far behind him in size.
+
+Saturn too has a family, not of five moons only but of eight moons.
+He also has three very wonderful rings, which shine in the sunlight.
+Neither rings nor moons can be seen without a very good telescope.
+
+Outside the pathway of Saturn lies that of URANUS, another huge world,
+though a good deal smaller than Saturn.
+
+Outside the pathway of Uranus travels the dim and distant NEPTUNE--so
+far as we know, the outermost world of the whole Solar System. Neptune
+is rather larger than Uranus.
+
+So there are first the four smaller or Lesser Planets--Mercury,
+Venus, Earth, Mars; then the Planetoids; and then the four big Outer
+Planets--Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
+
+Now look again at your little balls which picture the sizes of the
+smaller planets. The biggest of them is our Earth--a ball or a
+cocoa-nut four inches through.
+
+But when we turn to Jupiter, still letting one inch stand for 2,000
+miles, we shall want a ball or globe no less than _three feet and a
+half_ through, from side to side.
+
+And for Saturn we must find a globe _three feet_ through.
+
+And for Uranus a globe less than _one foot and a half_ through.
+
+And for Neptune a globe quite _one foot and a half_ through.
+
+Then, to finish up, we shall want a big balloon, for the Sun,
+_thirty-five feet_ through.
+
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+ 1. What is the Solar System?
+
+The Sun’s Kingdom of Worlds in the Sky.
+
+ 2. What is a System?
+
+An orderly arrangement.
+
+ 3. What is a Planet?
+
+A planet is a world which shines by borrowed light.
+
+ 4. What is an Orbit?
+
+A planet’s pathway.
+
+ 5. How do the pathways of the planets lie round the Sun?
+
+One outside another, and all of them very nearly on the same level.
+
+ 6. Which are the four Lesser Planets--nearest to the Sun?
+
+Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars.
+
+ 7. What comes next?
+
+The belt of tiny Planetoids.
+
+ 8. Which are the four Outer Planets?
+
+Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
+
+ 9. Which is the largest planet of all?
+
+Jupiter.
+
+ 10. If our Earth were only four inches through how big should Jupiter
+ be?
+
+Three feet and a half through.
+
+ 11. How many moons has Jupiter?
+
+Five moons.
+
+ 12. How many moons has Saturn?
+
+Eight moons, and three rings.
+
+ 13. Which planet is nearest to the Sun?
+
+Mercury.
+
+ 14. Is this quite sure?
+
+An inner planet, Vulcan, may be there; but this is very uncertain.
+
+ 15. Which is the farthest off planet known to us?
+
+Neptune.
+
+ 16. How many Planetoids do we know of?
+
+Nearly 350; and new ones are often found.
+
+ 19. Which planets travel fastest?
+
+Those nearest to the Sun.
+
+ 20. Why do they travel faster?
+
+Because the pull of the Sun is so much stronger.
+
+ 21. In what direction do the planets travel?
+
+All of them from west to east.
+
+ 22. Which way do they spin?
+
+All of them from west to east.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+WHAT IS MEANT BY AN ECLIPSE.
+
+
+Before telling you more about the other worlds in the Sun’s kingdom I
+should like you to understand what is meant by an Eclipse.
+
+The word “Eclipse” really means “a failure”--as when something _fails_
+to shine because its light is somehow hidden or shadowed.
+
+First, we will think about an ECLIPSE OF THE SUN.
+
+For this we will forget all other worlds, and fix our minds only on the
+Earth, the Moon, and the Sun.
+
+The Sun is in the centre, or, as a child would say, “in the middle.”
+The Earth journeys round him. The Moon also journeys round the Sun;
+and, as she goes, she curves backwards and forwards, so as to be on
+each side of the Earth in turn.
+
+Sometimes she is outside the Earth, away from the Sun; and then we see
+her as Full Moon. Sometimes she is between the Earth and the Sun--only
+a little higher or lower, and not exactly between:--and then she is New
+Moon, with her bright face turned from us, so that we cannot see her.
+
+Suppose the Moon, instead of being at “New Moon” a little higher or
+lower, were to pass just _exactly_ between the Sun and us; what would
+happen?
+
+We should see her as a dark round body, creeping over the face of the
+Sun, and hiding him from us.
+
+And this is precisely what we do see, from time to time. Once in a
+while the Moon does come into the line between; and then we have an
+Eclipse of the Sun: we see the moon’s dark body covering or partly
+covering his face.
+
+You must not think that the Moon is at such times any darker than
+usual. She always has a dark side and a bright side. At New Moon the
+dark side is towards us, and so we cannot see it at all--_unless_ she
+happens to be just between the Sun and us.
+
+But you must not suppose for a moment that she really touches the face
+of the Sun. The Moon is no nearer to the Sun than usual. She is only
+_between_ him and us.
+
+If you are in a room with a lamp on the table, and somebody holds a big
+ball just between your eyes and the lamp, what happens?
+
+The lamp is eclipsed. It does not leave off shining, but to you it is
+eclipsed, or hidden. You see the dark ball, not the bright globe of the
+lamp beyond it.
+
+That is how we have an eclipse of the Sun. Now and then, at New Moon,
+our Moon glides exactly between, just as the ball came between your
+eyes and the lamp. And then the light of the Sun is cut off from part
+of the Earth.
+
+An eclipse of the Sun is always known about beforehand. The Moon’s
+pathway and the Earth’s pathway are so well understood by astronomers
+that they can tell when she will pass a little higher, or a little
+lower, and when she will go just between, so as to eclipse the Sun.
+
+Then, when the moment comes, we look earnestly at the Sun, perhaps with
+telescopes, perhaps only with pieces of smoked glass to protect our
+eyes; and we see--
+
+A dark round body touching the bright side of the Sun, then slowly
+crossing his face and blotting out his radiance.
+
+Not that the Sun is dimmed, or that for a moment he leaves off shining.
+Other worlds see him still, as brilliant as ever. But to us, for a
+short space, his light is hidden by the solid Moon floating between.
+
+For a few seconds, and no more, we have almost darkness. Then, on the
+side of the Sun where the moon seemed first to touch him, a line of
+light is seen. This widens fast, as the dark round moon draws away to
+the opposite edge and then vanishes, and the whole Sun shines out as
+usual.
+
+Even when an eclipse can be seen it is often only a _Partial_ eclipse,
+not _Total_. Only part of the Sun is hidden, not all of him. The Moon
+creeps over one edge, or perhaps over half of the Sun’s face, but she
+does not cover him quite.
+
+Now and then we have what is called an _Annular_ eclipse. The round
+dark body of the Moon is seen upon the face of the Sun, and a bright
+rim of the Sun is all round the Moon.
+
+It seems odd that at one time the Moon should quite hide the Sun, and
+that at another time the Moon should be too small to hide him.
+
+The reason is that the Moon is sometimes a little nearer to us,
+sometimes a little farther away; and the Sun too is the same--sometimes
+a little nearer, sometimes a little farther.
+
+If an eclipse happens just when the Moon is at her farthest from us,
+and so seems her smallest, while the Sun is at his nearest to us, and
+so seems his biggest, then she is not large enough to cover his whole
+face. But if the Sun is at his farthest, and the Moon at her nearest,
+she can hide him entirely.
+
+When a Total Eclipse is foretold, astronomers are eager to make the
+most of it. Telescopes are pointed at him, and photographs are taken.
+Much can be seen during a total eclipse which is hidden from us at
+other times, because the dazzling brilliance of the Sun’s body is for a
+few seconds cut off from our eyes.
+
+The ocean of fire round the Sun is seen at his edge, outside the dark
+body of the Moon, by those who look through telescopes; also the sharp
+mountains of fiery gases, and the soft broad crown of light spreading
+away on all sides.
+
+But the very utmost has to be made of each moment. Hardly has the
+Moon’s body covered the whole face of the Sun before she begins to move
+away from the side which first she seemed to touch; and as a bright
+line of light appears there, these wonderful sights vanish.
+
+Remember, an Eclipse of the Sun never happens except at the time of New
+Moon. It is only then that the Moon can possibly be just between the
+Sun and our Earth.
+
+Another kind of Eclipse, however, may happen at Full Moon; and that is
+an eclipse of the Moon herself.
+
+An ECLIPSE OF THE MOON is partly like and partly unlike an Eclipse of
+the Sun.
+
+In an Eclipse of the Sun we have the solid body of the Moon gliding
+in between, and hiding his light from us though all the time the Sun
+shines on just the same, behind the Moon.
+
+[Illustration: _At 9:32._]
+
+[Illustration: _At 9:37._]
+
+_Eclipse of the Moon. January 28, 1888._
+
+In an eclipse of the Moon we, on the Earth, have no solid body between
+us and the Moon. Her brightness is not simply hidden, it is for the
+moment quenched by a shadow. For the shadow of our Earth falls upon her.
+
+The Moon is bright only when the sunshine makes her bright. When the
+solid body of the Earth, gliding in between, cuts off the sunlight from
+her, then the Moon shines no longer. So long as she is plunged in the
+Earth’s shadow she is all dark.
+
+You have seen with a lamp and a big ball how the Sun can be eclipsed by
+the Moon.
+
+Now, instead of letting some one hold the ball between your head and
+the lamp, you must get some one to hold the ball farther off while you
+move _with your head between the lamp and the ball_. Place your head
+exactly between, so that its shadow covers the ball.
+
+Then you have a picture of a Moon-Eclipse.
+
+So once in a while, when the Earth goes exactly between Sun and Moon,
+the Moon for a very short time is not a bright world at all. She is
+quite a dull one. But the very moment she catches a glimpse of the
+Sun’s radiant face she begins to shine again.
+
+There is, you see, a great likeness, as well as some difference,
+between an Eclipse of the Sun and an Eclipse of the Moon.
+
+In an Eclipse of the Moon the Earth glides between Sun and Moon, and
+the Moon passes into the Earth’s shadow. In an Eclipse of the Sun, the
+Moon glides between Sun and Earth, and a part of our Earth passes into
+the Moon’s shadow. The Earth’s shadow is large, and the Moon’s shadow
+is small; yet so far the two kinds of Eclipse are really alike.
+
+If you and I were standing on the Sun we should see the Earth eclipse
+the Moon, and the Moon eclipse part of the Earth, by turns, and in the
+same way. The Earth would slip in front of the Moon, hiding the Moon
+from us; or the Moon would slip in front of the Earth, hiding part of
+the Earth from us.
+
+But looking upon the two sights from the Earth, and not from the Sun,
+they seem to us a little different in kind.
+
+Other Eclipses take place in the kingdom of the Sun besides these two.
+
+There are many other moons besides our Moon. You should always remember
+that MOON is the name of our particular moon, just as EARTH is the
+name of our particular world. Other little worlds travelling with
+big ones are spoken of as “moons;” but more rightly they ought to be
+called “satellites.” Each one has its own separate name; whereas _our_
+“satellite” has no other name except “The Moon.”
+
+[Illustration: _At 10._]
+
+[Illustration: _At 10:15._]
+
+_Eclipse of the Moon. January 28, 1888._
+
+Mars has two tiny moons, and Mars often eclipses his moons. Jupiter has
+five moons, and they often pass into his vast shadow. The eight moons
+of Saturn, the four moons of Uranus, the moon of Neptune, are all in
+turn eclipsed. Also, in turn, they all pass between the Sun and the
+Planet to which they belong, casting a small shadow on the Planet, and
+making an Eclipse of the Sun for that part where the shadow falls.
+
+One or two other things often seen are much like Eclipses, though known
+by other names.
+
+For instance, as the Moon journeys at night across the sky--_seems_ to
+journey, I mean--she blots out star after star on her way.
+
+Does she really blot each star out, as you might snuff out a candle?
+
+No, indeed. She only comes between our eyes and the star. The Moon is
+still as near as usual, and the star beyond is as far off as usual.
+But, for a little while, the Moon, being exactly in the line between,
+hides the star from us.
+
+We do not speak of this as an eclipse, but really it _is_ an Eclipse of
+the stars by the Moon.
+
+They are hidden by the solid body of the Moon, just exactly as the Sun
+is hidden during a Total Eclipse. The chief difference is that we look
+upon the bright side of the Moon, instead of the dark side.
+
+Again, you will sometimes hear of a CONJUNCTION of two planets, or of
+a planet and a very bright star.
+
+A “Conjunction” means “a joining together.”
+
+Jupiter is seen, in the sky, to come very close indeed to Saturn. We
+are told that it is “a Conjunction” of Jupiter and Saturn.
+
+Still you must not for a moment think that Jupiter is any closer than
+usual to Saturn. They are divided, as always, by a great gulf of
+millions upon millions of miles. The two only happen to be for a while
+in nearly the same _line of sight_, as looked upon from the Earth.
+Saturn is very much farther off, but he is almost _behind_ Jupiter.
+
+Instead of Jupiter and Saturn seeming to draw near together, it may
+be Jupiter and Venus; or perhaps Jupiter and Mars; or Saturn and the
+bright star Sirius.
+
+But in each case it is only a seeming nearness. They are not really
+near together. It is only a matter of the one being seen _beyond_ the
+other--very greatly beyond it--in almost the same line of sight.
+
+Suppose you stood on the sea-shore and saw a ship one or two miles off
+sail just between you and another ship ten or twenty miles off. If the
+near one _hid_ the farther one it would be like an Eclipse. If the near
+one only appeared to be _side by side_ with, the farther one it would
+be like a Conjunction.
+
+There is still one more sight, which is also like an Eclipse in its
+nature. Sometimes one of the planets whose pathway lies nearer to
+the Sun than the Earth’s pathway glides exactly between the Sun and
+ourselves.
+
+This is just what the Moon does at an Eclipse of the Sun. But the
+planet is too far away from us to hide the Sun. We can only see a tiny
+dark body creeping across the Sun’s face; and we call this a “TRANSIT,”
+or a “passing over.”
+
+You will hear more about “Transits” in the next chapter.
+
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+ 1. What is an Eclipse?
+
+A hiding of light.
+
+ 2. Tell me what causes an Eclipse of the Sun.
+
+The round body of the Moon comes exactly between the Earth and the Sun,
+and hides the Sun from us.
+
+ 3. Tell me what causes an Eclipse of the Moon.
+
+The round body of the Earth comes exactly between Sun and Moon; and the
+Earth’s shadow falling on the Moon makes her dark.
+
+ 4. How far are the two alike?
+
+In an Eclipse of the Sun, the Moon is between Sun and Earth. In an
+Eclipse of the Moon, the Earth is between Sun and Moon.
+
+ 5. Do they seem just alike to us?
+
+Not as seen from Earth. In an Eclipse of the Sun we see the Moon’s
+solid body against the Sun. In an Eclipse of the Moon we see Earth’s
+shadow crossing the Moon’s face.
+
+ 6. Does the Moon get nearer to the Sun than usual in an Eclipse of the
+ Sun?
+
+No nearer at all. She only passes _between_ the Sun and Earth.
+
+ 7. Are there any other eclipses?
+
+Other planets with moons have eclipses in the same way.
+
+ 8. Tell me another name for “moons.”
+
+Satellites.
+
+ 9. What is a Conjunction of Planets?
+
+When two planets happen to be seen near together in the sky we call
+that a Conjunction.
+
+ 10. Are they really near together?
+
+No nearer than usual. They only happen to lie in almost the same line
+of sight.
+
+ 11. What is a Transit of a Planet?
+
+Very much like an eclipse. One of the planets, nearer to the Sun than
+our Earth, gets exactly between the Sun and Earth.
+
+ 12. Is the Sun’s face hidden?
+
+No; because the planet is too far away. We only see a small body
+crossing his face.
+
+ 13. At what time is an Eclipse of the Sun?
+
+Never at any other time than New Moon.
+
+ 14. When do we have an Eclipse of the Moon?
+
+Never at any other time than Full Moon.
+
+ 15. What is a Total Eclipse of Sun or Moon?
+
+When the whole face of the Sun or Moon is hidden.
+
+ 16. What is a Partial Eclipse?
+
+When only part of the face of Sun or Moon is hidden.
+
+ 17. What is an Annular Eclipse of the Sun?
+
+When a bright rim of the Sun is seen all round the dark body of the
+Moon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+MERCURY AND VENUS.
+
+
+Now let us take a flight through the Sun’s great kingdom, paying a
+visit to one bright world after another on our way. We will start from
+near the Sun himself, stopping first to look at the two innermost of
+the Four Lesser Planets. We might name them The Sun’s Body-Guard.
+
+MERCURY has a pathway round the Sun much more oval in its shape than
+our Earth’s pathway. And the Sun is a good deal to one side of the
+exact middle of that oval. So Mercury, at one time of his year, is many
+millions of miles closer to the Sun than at another time.
+
+You must remember that a Planet’s Year means just the length of time
+that the Planet takes to go once round the Sun. Our Earth’s yearly
+journey takes 365 days; but other worlds have years either longer or
+shorter. No two are exactly alike.
+
+The length of Mercury’s year is about 88 of our days, or three months
+of Earth-time. So four years of Mercury go to one of our years. If a
+little boy on Mercury had lived just as long as ten of our years, he
+would be forty years old!
+
+When closest to the Sun, Mercury cannot easily be seen by us, he is so
+lost in the Sun’s radiance. And although perhaps the brightest of the
+worlds, because so much the nearest, he often seems dim to us.
+
+At his farthest off point from the Sun we have our best view of him,
+because he then stays longer above the horizon after the sunlight sinks
+away.
+
+We never see Mercury high up in the sky, for when Mercury is high the
+Sun is up also; and when the Sun can be seen Mercury cannot be seen
+without a telescope.
+
+The distance of Mercury from the Sun is commonly said to be about
+thirty-six millions of miles. That may be called his “middle-distance.”
+He draws sometimes as near to the Sun as twenty-eight millions of
+miles, and goes as far off as forty-three millions of miles--a very
+great difference.
+
+Even at his farthest Mercury has to endure an awful blaze of heat and
+glare; and at his nearest the most scorching mid-day ever known on the
+hottest parts of the Earth would be icy by comparison.
+
+Mercury does not always go at the same pace through the sky. When near
+he travels faster, because the Sun’s pull is stronger. When farther off
+he slackens his speed.
+
+At his quickest he whirls onward at the rate of about _thirty-five
+miles each second_! Think of that! A railway train does pretty well if
+it gets over about thirty-five miles of ground each _hour_, and sixty
+or seventy miles an hour we count very fast travelling. But Mercury’s
+speed is more than two thousand miles an hour. This quite puts our
+express trains to the blush.
+
+It is impossible for us to see much of a planet so bathed in sunlight
+glory.
+
+We do not know whether the axis of Mercury does or does not slant, like
+the Earth’s axis. Nor are we at all sure how long it takes Mercury to
+spin upon his axis.
+
+Wonderful as it sounds, Mercury has been weighed by man--and not only
+Mercury, but the Moon, and the Sun, and the other planets, and even
+some of the Stars. I cannot try, in a book such as this, to explain
+_how_ the heavenly bodies are weighed from our little Earth. I can only
+tell you that it is really and truly done.
+
+Mercury is a far heavier body than our Earth; not actually more heavy
+as a whole, because so much smaller, but heavier in _make_.
+
+Do you see what this means? Iron is heavier than tin in its make. A
+large quantity of tin may weigh more than a small lump of iron; yet in
+actual make the iron is heavier. If Mercury were as big as our Earth,
+Mercury would be very much the heavier of the two. Our Earth is less
+heavy in make than Mercury, but she comes next after Mercury. Other
+worlds are still lighter.
+
+Mercury shines less brightly than Venus, as seen from the Earth. We
+have to allow for the greater distance of Mercury; but even then Venus
+seems to be more brilliant than one would expect, while Mercury is less
+brilliant.
+
+Although the Sun pours his beams upon all things alike, those beams are
+not always received alike. Some worlds make more of the light which
+they have than do others, and they give out more shining in return.
+We see that even on the Earth. If a sheet of polished silver and a
+sheet of unpolished lead are held side by side in the sunlight, what
+a difference we find! The silver flashes brilliantly, while the lead
+shows only a dull sort of brightness.
+
+Of these two worlds, so near to the Sun, Mercury, the nearer, is said
+to shine only like lead, while Venus, the farther, shines like silver.
+
+Once in a while the tiny body of Mercury is seen to creep, as a little
+black dot, across the face of the Sun: though this is only visible in a
+telescope. Then we have a “Transit of Mercury.” In the last chapter you
+were told what is meant by a Transit.
+
+If Mercury were as near to us as our Moon is, he would hide the Sun
+from us in his transit just as the Moon does in an eclipse--only more
+fully, because Mercury is bigger than our Moon.
+
+In a Transit, as in an Eclipse, there is no real drawing together of
+Sun and Planet. Be very clear in your mind about this. Mercury glides
+_between_ our Earth and the Sun, but he is just as far as usual from
+the Earth on one side and from the Sun on the other side.
+
+If you are gazing at a church-tower a great many miles away, and a bird
+near at hand flies between, hiding for a moment that tower from you,
+the bird may be said to “eclipse” the tower. But he does not go nearer
+to the church. He only moves into the straight line between you and the
+tower.
+
+And if, instead of this, a bird some distance off flies between--then
+you have a “transit.” The more distant bird cannot hide the
+church-tower, but you see his little body pass across it, as a dark
+spot.
+
+A transit of Mercury is not common. For though Mercury often passes
+between the Earth and the Sun he is not often _exactly_ between. His
+oval pathway is not quite on the same level as the Earth’s pathway. So
+he is usually a little too high or a little too low for us to see him
+against the Sun.
+
+Leaving Mercury behind we come next to the pathway of the planet VENUS.
+
+Mercury was a good deal smaller than our Earth; but Venus is almost
+the same size. Instead of being, like Mercury, only some thirty-six
+millions of miles away from the Sun, Venus is about sixty-five millions
+of miles off. She journeys round him at a rate of some twenty-two
+miles each second, and her year lasts about seven months and a half of
+Earth-time. In make she is not quite so solid and heavy as our Earth.
+
+Venus in her journey round the Sun, as our Moon travels round the
+Earth, is now believed to turn on her axis so very slowly that the same
+side is always towards the Sun, and the other side is always turned
+away. If this really is so, one half of Venus has an endless day, and
+the other half an endless night.
+
+The same state of things may possibly be also true of Mercury.
+
+Both these worlds are believed to have air around them, and Venus
+seems to be enwrapped in thick clouds. This helps to explain the great
+brilliancy of Venus. Nothing lights up so well in sunshine as masses
+of cloud, though of course we on Earth more generally see the dark
+_undersides_ of clouds.
+
+So far as we know, Venus is a lonely world. She seems to have no
+little moon-friend to journey with her in the sky.
+
+She has, however, a far more splendid Sun than ours--the very same Sun
+only much nearer, and bigger and more dazzling. She also has in her sky
+a very exquisite little shining Earth, far lovelier than Venus at her
+best ever appears to us. And I will tell you why.
+
+Venus comes at times nearer to our Earth than any other world in all
+the sky, except our Moon. If the Moon is our little Sister-World Venus
+is our Next-Door Neighbor.
+
+When the Earth happens to be on one side of the Sun and Venus on the
+other side the two then are widely parted. When both are on the same
+side of the Sun at once they are quite near--divided by only about
+twenty-six millions of miles.
+
+Of course twenty-six millions of miles sound a good deal to you and
+me. We think so much of even one thousand miles on the Earth, and
+one million is a thousand thousand. But in talking of sky-distances
+twenty-six millions of miles are merely a matter of next-door neighbors!
+
+Unfortunately, when Venus is at her nearest to us we cannot see her.
+She is then, like our Moon at New-Moon, between us and the Sun, so that
+her dark side is toward us, and her bright side is away from us.
+
+This is a great pity, because she would be a lovely sight then, so near
+and brilliant. Our best sight of her is when she is away to one side,
+and then it is really only “Half-Venus” that we see. Even that half is
+the brightest of all heavenly bodies to us, after the Sun and Moon; but
+you can fancy how much more beautiful the whole would be.
+
+We do see the whole of her when she gets right beyond the Sun; but then
+she is so very, very far away that she becomes much more small and dim.
+
+However, when Venus is New-Venus to us--like the Moon being
+New-Moon--our Earth is Full-Earth to Venus. Then indeed our Earth must
+be a splendid sight, if only there were anybody on Venus to admire her!
+
+When Venus comes between us and the Sun she is more commonly not
+_exactly_ between. Now and then, however, instead of being a little
+higher or lower, she is just precisely between, and so we have a
+Transit of Venus. It is much the same as a Transit of Mercury. Only the
+round black dot is bigger, and can be seen more easily; sometimes even
+without a telescope.
+
+Two transits of Venus come near together, within a few years. Then for
+more than a hundred years there is no transit; after which two more
+come again.
+
+Venus can never see a transit or passing of our Earth over the Sun,
+because the pathway of the Earth lies outside the pathway of Venus. So
+our Earth can never pass between Venus and the Sun.
+
+But Venus can see a transit of Mercury; and we on Earth can see
+transits of Mercury and Venus. And Mars doubtless can see transits of
+Mercury, Venus and Earth, though the Earth can never see a transit of
+Mars.
+
+It is always an _outer_ planet which sees an _inner_ planet seem to
+pass across the Sun’s face.
+
+In all these cases, if the worlds were very near together--as near as
+our Moon is to the Earth--the Transits would be Eclipses.
+
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+ 1. How far is Mercury from the Sun?
+
+Sometimes nearer, sometimes farther; but, roughly, about 36 millions of
+miles.
+
+ 2. How fast does Mercury journey?
+
+At his fastest, about 35 miles each second.
+
+ 3. How long is Mercury’s year?
+
+About 88 days, or three months, of Earth-time.
+
+ 4. Can we see much of Mercury?
+
+No; because it is too near to the Sun.
+
+ 5. Is Mercury heavy or light in make?
+
+Much heavier in make than our Earth is.
+
+ 6. Which is brighter, Mercury or Venus?
+
+Mercury gets most sunlight, but Venus reflects sunlight best.
+
+ 7. What is a Transit of Mercury or Venus?
+
+The planet passes exactly between Earth and Sun, and is seen against
+the Sun, crossing his face.
+
+ 8. What distance is Venus from the Sun?
+
+About 66 millions of miles.
+
+ 9. How fast does Venus journey?
+
+About 22 miles each second.
+
+ 10. Why is Venus slower than Mercury?
+
+Because Venus is farther off than Mercury from the Sun, and so the pull
+of the Sun is less.
+
+ 11. How long is the year of Venus?
+
+About seven months and a half of Earth-time.
+
+ 12. Is any other planet in our sky brighter than Venus?
+
+No planet or star--only the Sun and the Moon.
+
+ 13. How near to us does Venus come?
+
+At her nearest she is about 26 millions of miles off.
+
+ 14. Is she very bright then?
+
+Her bright side is turned away from us then, and we cannot see her at
+all.
+
+ 15. When is our best view of Venus?
+
+When we see her as really Half-Venus.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE PLANET MARS.
+
+
+Next outside the pathway of Venus comes the pathway of another planet,
+named EARTH--this same globe on which we live. From it, as from a
+little boat on the great ocean, we look out upon other floating worlds,
+and upon the countless stars.
+
+We can see the worlds and stars, but we cannot get to them. All of us
+are prisoners upon this little Earth-boat, during our earthly lives.
+
+As a Planet our Earth is one of the smaller worlds. She is nearly 8,000
+miles through, and about 25,000 miles round. She has a north pole and a
+south pole, and an equator. She has many continents and oceans, part of
+her surface being Land, and a larger part being Water.
+
+The Earth spins on her axis once in twenty-four hours; and she travels
+round the Sun once in twelve months, going at a rate of about nineteen
+miles each second.
+
+This is not so fast as Venus, and not nearly so fast as Mercury; yet it
+is seventy times faster than the speed of a cannon-ball.
+
+Think of our whole big Earth, with all of us on board, rushing wildly
+through the sky more than seventy times as fast as a cannon-ball rushes
+through the air. Only it is not “wildly;” the movements of the worlds,
+though very rapid, are calm and quiet.
+
+Our Earth, like Mercury, goes sometimes a little faster and sometimes a
+little more slowly. When nearer to the Sun she travels faster, and when
+farther off from him she travels more slowly. But the differences in
+her speed are much less than in Mercury’s, because her pathway is not
+so oval in shape, and so she is always more nearly at one distance from
+the Sun.
+
+Outside Earth’s pathway is that of MARS, the last of the Four Lesser
+Worlds.
+
+His untwinkling red gleam is easily seen. Not always in the east or
+west, like that of Mercury and Venus; but, like all the outer planets,
+in different parts of the sky at different times.
+
+Mars is much smaller than our Earth. He is only some 4,000 miles
+straight through. A big knitting-needle which might run just through
+him would have to be twice as long as one for the Moon, but only half
+as long as one for the Earth.
+
+It takes Mars about twenty-four hours and a half to spin once on his
+axis; so days and nights are much the same in length there as with us.
+His axis, too, seems to lean over very much as our Earth’s axis does,
+and that would give Mars seasons a good deal like ours.
+
+Only, as the year of Mars is almost as long as two Earthly years, his
+seasons would last much longer. Spring and summer, autumn and winter,
+would be each about five or six Earthly months in length.
+
+The distance of Mars from the Sun is about 140 millions of miles.
+
+So Venus is somewhere about twice as far off from the Sun as Mercury.
+The Earth is about three times as far as Mercury. Mars is more than
+four times as far as Mercury.
+
+Mars is a very interesting little world. Not so brilliant or lovely as
+Venus, but really more easy for us to study and examine. Venus seems to
+be so covered with masses of white clouds that we can see very little
+of the planet itself; but Mars is not covered with clouds.
+
+Mars never comes so near to us as Venus does. Only, unfortunately,
+Venus at her nearest cannot be seen at all, because her bright side
+is turned away from the Earth and towards the Sun. While Mars at his
+nearest, being _outside_ the Earth, can be looked upon nicely, for the
+Sun then shines full upon that side of Mars which is towards us.
+
+When we talk of “studying and examining” a world which never by any
+chance comes closer than 35 millions of miles away, we have to be
+careful. It does not do to guess at things, or to be in a hurry to
+settle what cannot be truly known.
+
+Even with the Moon we found that the biggest of telescopes cannot make
+her look very much less than one hundred miles away. But Mars is a
+great deal farther off than the Moon.
+
+Just think of the difference! The 240 _thousands_ of Moon-distance are
+changed into 35 _millions_ of miles for the distance of Mars. And the
+most powerful telescope cannot bring down those 35 millions of miles to
+less than about 35 thousands of miles.
+
+So when people talk about Mars, and about what may be seen on Mars,
+remember this--that at the very best _we can only see Mars as we should
+see a world 35 thousands of miles away_!
+
+On the Earth even a hundred miles seems a long distance. From the
+top of a mountain one can see to a hundred miles no doubt, in clear
+weather; but very little can be made out at such a distance. Yet a
+hundred miles would be only a small piece of one country. It takes ten
+hundreds to make a thousand, and a thousand miles off seems to us very
+far indeed.
+
+Nobody on the Earth can ever be farther from us than about 8,000 or
+about 12,006 miles off, that is, through the middle of the Earth 8,000
+miles, or reckoning round the outside rather over 12,000. You know how
+distant Australia seems from us.
+
+But Mars at his nearest, and looked at through the largest of
+telescopes, is still only seen as a world _three times farther away_
+than the very farthest off country upon this whole Earth from you or me.
+
+Of course it is very wonderful that a planet thirty-five millions of
+miles away can be actually seen through a telescope as if it were only
+thirty-five thousands of miles away. Still, at the best, thirty-five
+thousands of miles is a pretty good distance.
+
+Although we cannot find out half or a quarter of what we want to know
+about Mars, still we do know a good deal. The big telescopes tell us
+much, and another instrument, called a “spectroscope,” tells us yet
+more. But in this small book I cannot even try to explain to you what a
+“spectroscope” is.[1]
+
+[1] See “Sun, Moon, and Stars,” page 307.
+
+We know that Mars has some sort of air, perhaps rather like our Earth
+air, only more thin. We know that water floats in that air, as water
+floats unseen in our air.
+
+As for climates, one might expect Mars to be terribly cold at such a
+distance from the Sun. He cannot have half the quantity of light or
+heat that we have. Yet, somehow, there seem to be signs that Mars is
+not a very much colder world than our Earth is.
+
+At the north pole and the south pole of Mars tiny white caps, or
+patches, are seen; and these are most likely made of ice and snow. We
+on the Earth have always ice and snow at our two poles; and people on
+another world, a long way off, might perhaps see our polar ice and snow
+as white caps, or patches.
+
+Sometimes clouds are seen to flit across Mars, white clouds, like the
+white clouds which cover Venus. This only means that they are white
+outside, on the _upper_ surface, where the Sun shines. They may be gray
+below, like so many of our gray Earth clouds, though we also often see
+clouds white and shining in sunlight. And when a man gets up a high
+mountain above the clouds, and looks down upon them, he sees their
+upper surface, white as snow and beautifully bright.
+
+Mars commonly looks red, when seen without a telescope. If seen through
+a telescope, greenish and purplish patches are found. It is very likely
+that the one color shows land and the other water. Since Mars has
+water-vapor in the air, and probably snow and ice at the poles, he is
+pretty sure to have oceans also. But the continents and oceans of Mars
+are differently shaped from ours. There seems to be more of land and
+less of sea.
+
+[Illustration: _Mars. August 22 and 29, 1892._]
+
+Thus in a good many ways Mars is not so very unlike our Earth, his
+next-door neighbor. Day and night seem to be much the same in both
+worlds, also summer and winter. We think, too, that we find there
+air and water, snow and ice, lands and seas, changes of weather and
+differences of climate, more or less like those of the Earth.
+
+But if you ask me whether animals and men and women and children live
+on Mars, I can only say that _nobody knows_. It may not be impossible,
+so far as we are able to judge. We feel pretty sure that no living
+creatures such as we ever see on the Earth could exist on the Moon or
+the Sun. And with Mercury, if not also with Venus, we are hardly less
+sure, when we think of the intense glare and awful heat in which those
+two worlds travel.
+
+With Mars there is some difference. Knowing the little we do know, it
+certainly seems a thing by no means out of the question that living
+creatures _might_ find a home on Mars--creatures not utterly unlike
+those upon the Earth. But we cannot for a moment say that they do.
+
+One difference between Mars and the Earth which would make life there
+very unlike life on the Earth is its small size.
+
+On Mars, as on the Earth, there is the “pull” of attraction. “Downward”
+all round the planet is towards the centre of Mars, and “upward” all
+round is towards the sky of Mars; and everything in Mars is heavy
+towards the centre of the planet.
+
+But the _pull_ there is much less than here, because Mars is so small;
+and the less pull means less weight. A lump of iron which weighs ten
+pounds on the Earth would weigh less than five pounds on Mars. If a man
+went to Mars he would be as light there as a boy on the Earth; and if a
+boy went there he would weigh as little as a baby on the Earth.
+
+The two moons which travel with Mars are very tiny, perhaps only about
+eight or ten miles through.
+
+Between the planet Mars and the planet Jupiter lies an enormous gap of
+millions of miles empty of all large worlds, even of worlds as big as
+our Moon.
+
+Somewhere about the middle of that vast gap, about half-way between
+Mars and Jupiter, is the belt of PLANETOIDS.
+
+Less than four hundred of them are as yet actually known to us; but
+perhaps thousands of them may be there. Each of these tiny planets has
+its own pathway round the Sun, and their pathways do not keep nearly to
+the level of the Earth’s pathway, like those of the bigger worlds.
+
+Vesta, the largest of them all, is perhaps over three hundred miles
+through, and three others come rather near Vesta in size. The greater
+number are under one hundred miles through; some being mere balls,
+about the size of Mars’ moons.
+
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+ 1. Which is the next planet outside Venus?
+
+The Earth on which we live.
+
+ 2. How far is the Earth from the Sun?
+
+About 92 millions of miles.
+
+ 3. How fast does our Earth travel?
+
+About 19 miles each second.
+
+ 4. How long is the Earth’s year?
+
+About 365 days, or 12 months.
+
+ 5. Which is the next planet outside the Earth?
+
+Mars.
+
+ 6. What is the diameter of Mars?
+
+About 4,000 miles, or half that of our Earth.
+
+ 7. How far is Mars from the Sun?
+
+About 140 millions of miles.
+
+ 8. How long is Mars’ year?
+
+Nearly twice as long as our year.
+
+ 9. Does Mars spin on his axis?
+
+He is believed to do so, in twenty-four hours and a half.
+
+ 10. How near does Mars come to us?
+
+Never closer than 35 millions of miles off.
+
+ 11. But how much nearer does the most powerful telescope seem to bring
+ Mars?
+
+Perhaps to about 35 thousands of miles off.
+
+ 12. Are air and water found on Mars?
+
+Some kind of air, and water also, and ice and snow.
+
+ 13. Are there oceans on Mars?
+
+There are patches of color which may be continents and oceans.
+
+ 14. Where are ice and snow perhaps seen on Mars?
+
+White caps are seen at the two poles.
+
+ 15. Is Mars inhabited?
+
+Nobody can tell. It does not seem to be quite impossible, so far as we
+understand what Mars is like.
+
+ 16. Which planet comes next after Mars?
+
+Hundreds of Planetoids come next.
+
+ 17. Are they close to Mars?
+
+No; there is a great space between Mars’ pathway and Jupiter’s pathway;
+and the Ring of Planetoids lies somewhere about the middle of that
+great space.
+
+ 18. What is the name of the biggest Planetoid?
+
+Vesta.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE PLANET JUPITER.
+
+
+Now we pass on to JUPITER, chief in size of all the worlds in the
+kingdom of the Sun.
+
+The four inner planets are all small together. The four outer planets
+are all large together, Jupiter and Saturn being the twin giants of the
+Solar System.
+
+You now know that the distance of Mercury from the Sun is about 35
+millions of miles, and that the distance of Mars is about _four_ times
+that of Mercury. But the distance of Jupiter from the Sun is nearly
+_fourteen_ times that of Mercury. Think what an enormous gap this means
+between the pathway of Mars and the pathway of Jupiter.
+
+And, distant as Jupiter is from the Sun, he is quite as far from his
+next neighbor on the other side, Saturn. So Jupiter lies just about
+half-way between the Sun and Saturn.
+
+Yet Saturn is nearer to Jupiter than to his other neighbor, Uranus. The
+gap between the pathway of Saturn and the pathway of Uranus is _twice_
+as broad as the gap between Jupiter and Saturn.
+
+Outside Uranus stretches another vast empty space: and then we get to
+the last known planet, far-away Neptune!
+
+Jupiter whirls with such speed upon his axis, that it takes him less
+than ten hours to spin once round. A day of only five hours, and a
+night of only five hours! How should we like that?
+
+But with the short day he has a very long year. Jupiter gets once round
+the Sun in twelve of our earthly years. So a man who on Earth is nearly
+forty years old would on Jupiter be just over three years old: and an
+old Earthly gentleman of seventy would there be under the age of six.
+Our little boys and girls would hardly like only one birthday in twelve
+years.
+
+We have seen how, with greater distance from the Sun, each planet goes
+more and more slowly, as the Sun’s pulling becomes weaker. Jupiter
+rolls through the skies at a rate of only about eight miles each second.
+
+A beautiful world is Jupiter, looked upon from the Earth: the brightest
+in our sky after Venus. No other planet, except Venus, and no Star in
+the heavens can outshine Jupiter. This is because of two things--his
+great size and his nearness to us. Not nearness compared with that of
+the smaller worlds, but nearness compared with that of Saturn and
+Uranus and Neptune.
+
+Saturn, though almost as big as Jupiter, is very much farther off. And
+while Jupiter can hardly be so bright actually as Mars, because very
+much farther from the Sun, yet his huge size makes him greatly outshine
+Mars, which is so much nearer to us than he is.
+
+Seen through a pretty good telescope, Jupiter grows into a broad, soft,
+moon-like world, very flat at the north and south poles, with colored
+bands round him, on and near his equator. Four small bright moons are
+also to be noticed. Sometimes all four can be seen at once; sometimes
+one or two are hidden behind him, or the shadow of one creeps like
+a black dot over his face. The fifth little moon, found lately, can
+seldom be seen.
+
+Through a bigger telescope, Jupiter shows exquisite colors--rich reds,
+and browns, and greens, and purples. But these markings do not mean
+continents and oceans, as they perhaps mean on Mars. They are believed
+to belong to a very stormy Cloudland.
+
+Jupiter seems to be wrapped in thick masses of clouds; and these clouds
+are ever on the move, always changing their shapes. It may be that we
+now and then get a tiny glimpse through them of the more solid world
+within, but this we cannot be sure of. It _may_ be that the clouds
+never part so far as to let us see through. It _may_ be that there is
+nothing solid within at all.
+
+Anyhow, the solid part is very much smaller than the size of the
+Jupiter we see. For, like other planets, Jupiter has been weighed, and
+he is found to be very light in make. He is not nearly so heavy as one
+would expect with a globe of that size.
+
+The inner part may or may not be solid; some say it is most likely
+_not_. At any rate, it is enfolded by an enormous thickness of heated
+and tempestuous clouds.
+
+When you look up into the sky from the Earth you see the clouds moving
+and changing their shapes slowly. But if you could go quite near you
+would find their changes to be really very quick.
+
+And just so--only very much more so--at the vast distance of Jupiter we
+see movements which to us seem tiny and slow, yet which we believe to
+mean there, on the spot, the wildest rushings of heated clouds hither
+and thither. No storms on the Earth can be spoken of in the same breath
+with the terrific storms on Jupiter.
+
+And the question is--what brings this about? Our earthly tempests are
+caused by the heat of the Sun, but the Sun is so very far from Jupiter
+and yet the storms there are much more violent than any here.
+
+Do you remember being told that once upon a time, long, long ago, our
+Earth, now so cold and quiet a globe, was most likely a dazzling little
+Sun, and that she slowly cooled down from a Sun to a world?
+
+When she was a Sun she was fiercely hot and glowing gases played over
+her; and instead of solid ground and liquid seas there were only raging
+vapors, bright with their own heat. The Earth was larger then than now,
+for gases take up much more room than water and rocks and earth.
+
+Between those days and these our Earth must have passed through a
+_half-way_ stage.
+
+Suppose you have a lump of ice, and you wish to turn it into hot
+steam--how can you do it? Of course you must heat the ice, and then it
+will melt--not into steam, but into water. And when you have the water
+you can heat that again till it boils and goes off in steam--or, as we
+say, “it boils away.”
+
+Again, if you had steam and wished to turn it into ice, it would have
+to go through being water between the steam-state and the ice-state.
+
+So the water is a kind of half-way stage between ice and steam--between
+great cold and great heat.
+
+No doubt, our Earth, as she cooled, passed through a “half-way stage”
+too. She did not all at once become firm and cool. First she was a
+bright Sun, made of glowing gases. Then she was a half-sun, half-world:
+no longer shining, yet very hot indeed; no longer made of gases, but by
+no means solid. Then lastly she cooled down, as we now see her.
+
+These are, we suppose, three chief parts in the story or life of a
+heavenly body. Our Sun is in the early part--made of gases, exceedingly
+hot and bright. Our Earth is in the later part, cold and firm, and not
+shining!
+
+But Jupiter seems to be still in the middle part, in the half-way
+stage. He is very, very hot, yet not so hot as to give forth light of
+his own, for he shines by the Sun’s light. He is not any longer a great
+mass of gases, yet he seems to be very far from being solid and firm.
+The clouds which cover Jupiter, though not like the fiercely-glowing
+Sun-clouds, are yet very unlike our cool Earthly mists, and perhaps
+they may be at least as hot as the steam which pours from a boiling
+kettle.
+
+So the furious hurricanes on Jupiter are brought about, partly, at all
+events, by Jupiter’s own heat, and not by the Sun’s power alone.
+
+On the whole, we can hardly look upon Jupiter as a nice and fit place
+for either animals or men to live in. That does not mean that he can
+never become nice and fit. Our Earth was a very, very long time being
+made ready to serve as a home for men. Perhaps Jupiter is being made
+ready also for some such use. As he is so large he cannot cool down
+nearly so fast as our Earth.
+
+Jupiter’s moons all shine as our moon shines, by borrowed sunlight.
+
+The smallest of his four chief moons--which can easily be seen from the
+Earth--is about the same size as our Moon, and the biggest is larger
+than Mercury.
+
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+ 1. Which is the largest of the planets?
+
+Jupiter.
+
+ 2. How far is Jupiter from the Sun?
+
+Nearly fourteen times as far as Mercury is.
+
+ 3. How much farther still is Saturn?
+
+Saturn is as far from Jupiter as Jupiter is from the Sun. So the
+distance of Saturn is twice the distance of Jupiter.
+
+ 4. How far is Uranus?
+
+Uranus is twice as far from Saturn as Saturn is from Jupiter.
+
+ 5. Does Jupiter spin on his axis?
+
+Yes, in less than ten of our hours.
+
+ 6. How long is Jupiter’s year?
+
+About twelve of our years in length.
+
+ 7. How fast does Jupiter travel?
+
+About eight miles each second.
+
+ 8. Does Jupiter shine in our sky as brightly as Venus?
+
+No, but he is the next brightest planet in our sky after Venus.
+
+ 9. How many moons has Jupiter?
+
+Five moons, four of which can be seen easily. The fifth was only
+discovered a little while ago.
+
+ 10. Has Jupiter any markings?
+
+He has bands and beautiful coloring when seen in a telescope.
+
+ 11. Is Jupiter light or heavy?
+
+Very light in make; so light that he is thought to be far from solid,
+and to be wrapped in very thick masses of clouds.
+
+ 12. Is Jupiter a cooled world like the Earth?
+
+Jupiter seems to be only a half-cooled world.
+
+ 13. Is he hot enough to shine?
+
+Jupiter is too cool to shine with his own light; but he seems to be in
+a very heated and stormy state.
+
+ 14. How do Jupiter’s moons shine?
+
+Like Jupiter himself, by reflected sunlight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+SATURN, URANUS AND NEPTUNE.
+
+
+SATURN is only a little smaller than Jupiter, and very light indeed in
+weight. Not at all like our firm and solid Earth. He actually weighs
+_less than water_; which means that if we could make a huge globe, all
+of water, the same size as Saturn, this water-globe would be heavier
+than Saturn.
+
+This does not look as if Saturn were a very cold or solid globe, does
+it? A solid globe would surely weigh a great deal more than water.
+
+Saturn whirls round on his axis once in ten hours, like Jupiter. But
+his year is much longer than Jupiter’s year: partly because he is twice
+as far away from the Sun, which means a very much longer journey, and
+partly because at that distance he goes much more slowly. So one year
+of Saturn is as long as nearly thirty of our years. A man who on the
+Earth is seventy would on Saturn be only a little over two years old.
+
+In shape Saturn is very flat at the north and south poles, the same as
+Jupiter. Also on Saturn can be seen dimly-colored bands and markings.
+But these are much less clear than on Jupiter.
+
+[Illustration: _Jupiter._]
+
+[Illustration: _Saturn._]
+
+However Saturn has something which Jupiter has not: Saturn has his
+Rings.
+
+Until telescopes were made these rings could not be seen; and when
+first noticed they were a great puzzle.
+
+They lie round the vast globe of Saturn, one outside another,
+stretching far away up into Saturn’s sky. If you were on Saturn,
+standing just underneath the rings, the most you could see would be
+a narrow rim, or line, far over your head. But if you walked some
+distance off, in the right direction, you would have a lovely view of
+the rings, as wide bands, one above another, shining in the sunlight.
+
+For the rings of Saturn, like the eight moons of Saturn, have no
+brightness of their own. They shine when the Sun shines on them.
+
+And the Sun, as seen from Saturn, is very far off, and very small,
+compared with the big round orb which we see in our sky. Those rings
+and moons must shine but dimly, compared with the shining of our bright
+Moon.
+
+Yet, since _we_ can see them and find them lovely, even across all this
+great width of distance, they must surely be beautiful seen from Saturn.
+
+But to talk of anybody walking about on Saturn, to gaze at the rings,
+is really only nonsense.
+
+For Saturn, like Jupiter, seems to be only a half-cooled world--in
+fact, even less cooled, less solid, than Jupiter. Nobody could very
+well walk across great masses of heated and seething clouds in a
+perpetual turmoil of storms.
+
+I think we may safely say that Saturn at present would not offer a very
+comfortable home, at all events, for any such living creatures as we
+know upon the Earth.
+
+URANUS, the next planet outside Saturn, was seen first, rather more
+than a hundred years ago, by a famous English astronomer named Herschel.
+
+It takes Uranus 84 Earthly years to travel once round the Sun, at a
+rate of about four miles each second. So a man of 84 on Earth would be
+only just one year old on Uranus.
+
+Four moons journey with Uranus; and some glimpses have been caught
+of very faint band-markings on the planet, like those of Jupiter and
+Saturn. Little can be seen or known of worlds so far away: but it
+is most likely that Uranus and Neptune are both more or less in the
+half-hot state of the two big twin planets. Both Uranus and Neptune are
+light in make, weighing about the same as water.
+
+NEPTUNE, the very farthest off world of all known to us, journeys
+round the Sun at a distance of about 2,800 millions of miles, or
+_eighty times as far off as Mercury_. It is not very easy to see in our
+minds what this means. We must climb up to the thought, step by step.
+
+Think first of a rope one hundred miles long. Perhaps you have gone in
+the train from New York to Philadelphia. A rope one hundred miles in
+length would reach all the way and ten miles farther.
+
+Next, think of ten such ropes joined together, making a single rope one
+thousand miles long.
+
+Then think of twenty-five of those ropes joined into one rope, 25,000
+miles long.
+
+This rope would just about go round the Earth, lying on the equator
+like a girdle.
+
+It would take _ten_ such Earth-girdles to reach straight from the Earth
+to the Moon.
+
+But we have to get the thought of one million miles. Well, you would
+need about _forty_ Earth-girdles--forty ropes, each one being 25,000
+miles long--to make a rope one million miles in length.
+
+And when we get so far it is still only one million. Mercury is
+thirty-five millions of miles away from the Sun.
+
+So, for the distance of Mercury, you would need--first, forty
+Earth-girdles joined into a one-million mile rope, and then
+thirty-five of those million-mile ropes, to stretch all the great way
+from the Sun to his nearest planet, Mercury.
+
+When you have in mind that enormously long rope, reaching from the Sun
+to Mercury, the rest is easier.
+
+_Two_ such ropes would about reach from the Sun to Venus. _Three_ such
+ropes would about reach from the Sun to our Earth. _Four_ such ropes
+would about reach from the Sun to Mars.
+
+But to reach from the Sun to Jupiter no less than _fourteen_ such ropes
+would be needed.
+
+And to reach all the way to the distant Neptune, from the Sun, _eighty_
+such ropes would be needed!
+
+There indeed we find ourselves in a region of dimness and fearful
+cold. We can hardly fancy any human beings like ourselves living at so
+enormous a distance from the storehouse of light and heat.
+
+Our bright and glorious Sun, seen from Neptune, looks no larger than
+the planet Venus looks to us here. You and I on Earth have _nine
+hundred times_ as much light, and _nine hundred times_ as much heat,
+from the Sun, as a man on Neptune would have. Of course, if Neptune is
+only partly cooled, there may be plenty of heat from the planet itself.
+
+However, you must not think that the Sun even there looks only like
+Venus or Jupiter in our sky. Though small in size, he shines dazzlingly
+still. But after what we enjoy on Earth Neptune would indeed to us be a
+world of darkness.
+
+Travelling at the rate of three miles in a second, Neptune gets once
+round the Sun in 165 of our years.
+
+This planet was not discovered by accident, but through careful
+searching. Some day you will read with interest the story of how and
+why it was hunted for in the sky--and found.[2]
+
+[2] See “Sun, Moon and Stars,” pp. 227-234.
+
+Speaking of the distance of one planet from another we mean usually
+their _nearest_ distances, when they are both on one side of the Sun
+together. When they are on opposite sides of the Sun they are very much
+farther apart.
+
+The moons belonging to these planets are really like planets, or
+worlds, travelling with the bigger worlds. Some of them are not so
+very little, either. Mars’ moons are most tiny; but one of Jupiter’s
+moons, as you heard, is larger than Mercury. Mercury, however, being
+the nearest planet to the Sun, is a much more important world than a
+far-off moon of Jupiter can be.
+
+Each moon, whether of Jupiter, of Saturn, or of any other planet,
+travels, like our Moon, in a pathway of its own round the Sun. And as
+it goes it curves backwards and forwards, so as to face in turn each
+side of the large world with which it journeys.
+
+The pull of a great body like Jupiter is very strong; and the moons
+in consequence travel very fast round Jupiter--the nearest going most
+rapidly, the farthest off most slowly. It is the same again with
+Saturn’s eight moons.
+
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+ 1. What is the size of Saturn?
+
+Almost as large as Jupiter.
+
+ 2. Does Saturn spin on his axis?
+
+Yes, in about ten hours, like Jupiter.
+
+ 3. How long is Saturn’s year?
+
+Nearly thirty of our years.
+
+ 4. Is Saturn like Jupiter in make?
+
+Saturn is very light, even lighter than Jupiter; not so heavy as water.
+Saturn, too, has faint bands of color.
+
+ 5. What is Saturn’s state believed to be?
+
+Half-cooled, and very stormy, with great masses of cloud.
+
+ 6. How many moons has Saturn?
+
+Eight moons, and also three rings.
+
+ 7. How do the rings shine?
+
+Like the moons, on one side, by reflected sunlight.
+
+ 8. When was Uranus discovered?
+
+About one hundred years ago.
+
+ 9. By whom?
+
+By Herschel.
+
+ 10. How long is the year of Uranus?
+
+Eighty-four of our years.
+
+ 11. How many moons has Uranus?
+
+Four moons are known.
+
+ 12. What size are these two outer planets, Uranus and Neptune?
+
+Much larger than Venus or the Earth, much smaller than Jupiter or
+Saturn.
+
+ 13. How far is Neptune from the Sun?
+
+Eighty times the distance of Mercury, or twenty-eight hundred millions
+of miles.
+
+ 14. How fast does Neptune travel?
+
+Some three miles each second.
+
+ 15. What is the length of Neptune’s year?
+
+About one hundred and sixty-five of our years.
+
+ 16. How many moons has Neptune?
+
+Only one has been seen.
+
+ 17. Are Uranus and Neptune light or heavy in make?
+
+About as light in make as water.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+LONG-TAILED COMETS.
+
+
+A good deal has been said about empty gaps in the sky between and
+around the pathways of the worlds. But those gaps are at least not
+always quite empty.
+
+Comets, with long bright tails, flash through the darkness by hundreds,
+perhaps thousands. Meteors travel in vast swarms, by millions of
+millions. Each comet gives forth a radiant shining, and each little
+meteor is bright in the sunlight. I am going to tell you about Comets
+first, and then about Meteors.
+
+The word “comet” means “a hairy star.”
+
+But comets are not stars really, though they have often been mistaken
+for stars, especially when first seen without any tail.
+
+There may be any number of comets as far away as the stars, millions of
+them in each direction. But those we cannot possibly see. We only see
+such comets as belong to our Sun and travel about in his kingdom, or
+else those which come to pay him a visit from far away.
+
+No comet that is outside the Solar System can be visible to us on the
+Earth. The distance becomes too great. For the light of a comet is
+not like the light of a star, and it cannot reach through billions of
+miles, as the light of a star can.
+
+Once in a while a splendid comet makes its appearance, with a tail
+reaching half across our sky. But this is not at all common. Most of
+those seen are small and faint, and the greater number can only be seen
+at all in telescopes.
+
+Almost every year some fresh ones are found in the sky, and hardly a
+day passes in which at least one may not be noticed, in some part of
+the heavens, with a good telescope.
+
+Each comet, like each world, has its own pathway in the sky round
+the Sun. But a comet-pathway is much more oval in shape than a
+planet-pathway. Sometimes it is a very long and very narrow oval
+indeed, with the Sun almost close to one end of the long oval.
+
+To get round such a pathway as this takes a good while. At one part
+the comet gets quite near to the Sun, and then rushes at a tremendous
+speed. After which he wanders far away from the Sun, and creeps along
+more and more slowly.
+
+There are comets belonging to the Solar System which draw closer to the
+Sun than Mercury and go farther away than Neptune.
+
+Comet-pathways do not keep to the level of the chief planet-pathways.
+They slope about in all manner of ways, like the paths of the little
+Planetoids.
+
+Very many comets belong to the Sun’s kingdom. They journey round and
+round the Sun, and appear again and again from time to time. Some take
+only a few years for their journey, while others come back only once in
+the life of a man; and others again may be hundreds of years absent.
+
+And some comets never return. They do not belong to our Sun, but only
+pay him a single visit. These are strangers to our kingdom of worlds,
+travelling from the kingdom of some other far-off sun, perhaps one of
+the twinkling stars in our sky.
+
+A stranger comet comes, like other comets, slowly from the distance,
+quickening his speed day by day as he gets nearer to the Sun. Then he
+rushes at a mad rate round the Sun and flies off in a new direction, to
+quite another part of the heavens.
+
+What wonderful stories these bright visitors might tell us, if they
+could speak, of the skies from which they arrive!
+
+A comet is made of three parts: the _nucleus_, or the thickest portion
+of the head; the _coma_, or the bright fog round the nucleus; and the
+_train_ or _tail_.
+
+Sometimes there is no nucleus, and sometimes there is no tail; but
+there is always a coma--a soft hazy cloud of light, perhaps small
+enough to look like a dim star at first.
+
+But a comet watched from the Earth can never be so far off as the
+stars. Even the very largest comets are seldom to be seen farther away
+than Jupiter.
+
+There are comets of all sizes, from the huge to the tiny. Perhaps one
+would find as much difference between comets in the sky as between a
+whale and a minnow in water.
+
+Under a certain size they are hidden from us; but tinier comets than we
+can see may float in the sky by myriads.
+
+Of those which we can see, the thickest and heaviest part of the
+whole--the “nucleus”--may be only about fifty or a hundred miles
+through, or it may be some thousands of miles. The coma, or bright
+fog surrounding this thickest part of the comet, is generally as much
+as ten thousand miles across; and sometimes it is a hundred thousand
+miles. As for the bright train, it is, when fully formed, seldom less
+than ten millions of miles long, and sometimes it is a hundred millions
+of miles. Such a tail as this would reach the whole way from our Earth
+to the Sun.
+
+Yet a comet is not heavy. Its make is most wonderfully light; far more
+so than the very lightest world in the Sun’s kingdom. Saturn is not so
+solid or so heavy as water; but a comet really almost seems to be less
+solid and heavy than a mist.
+
+Very faint stars can be seen shining through thousands of miles of
+comet-thickness; while it does not take much of an earth-mist to hide
+the light of even the brightest star.
+
+Not long ago people were much frightened at comets. If a big one
+appeared in the sky it was thought to be a sign of something dreadful
+about to happen. Nobody then had any idea what immense numbers of
+comets are always in the sky.
+
+It was feared that, if a comet should run against our Earth, the whole
+world would be destroyed. Nobody knew how very light and delicate in
+its make a comet is.
+
+If such a thing ever did happen, which is most unlikely, one cannot
+say that no harm would be done; but certainly our Earth would not be
+destroyed.
+
+These comets seem to shine partly in the sunlight, and partly by their
+own brightness.
+
+You must not think that a comet always has a tail. More often, when one
+is first seen in the distance, it is only as a little hazy patch, or
+like a dim star, with no train of light at all.
+
+But as it comes hastening out of cold and darkness into the warmth and
+glare of the Sun great changes take place in its shape.
+
+The nucleus very often gets a little smaller; and why this should be I
+cannot tell you. But the coma gets larger, and takes to throwing out
+bright jets. Then the tail begins to grow; and day by day it becomes
+larger and larger.
+
+A comet drawing nearer to the Sun travels head-foremost, with the tail
+following after the head. This is only what one would expect.
+
+But as the comet swings round the Sun with a mighty rush its tail is
+sent round also in a great outward sweep, pointing all the time away
+from the Sun.
+
+Lastly, as the comet on the other side of its pathway goes away from
+the Sun, its tail travels first, end-foremost, and the head follows
+after the tail.
+
+So the head of a comet always points towards the Sun, and the tail of a
+comet always points away from the Sun.
+
+We know little as to the true nature of comets. They are, however,
+believed to be made partly of shining gases, and partly perhaps of
+small masses or lumps of more solid substance--in short, of little
+meteors.
+
+_Biela’s Comet_ was once a comet belonging to the Sun’s kingdom;
+but its story is rather curious. In 1846 it broke into two separate
+comets. These two kept company for a while, and then parted. One went
+ahead, and one dropped behind. After this both vanished, and in their
+stead our Earth in her journeying came across a shower of meteors. So
+perhaps the meteors are the remains of those two comets--the broken up
+bits, if one may so speak.
+
+_The Great Comet of_ 1882 was often to be seen in full daylight.
+When passing away, after its rapid whirl round the Sun, it could be
+perceived in telescopes at a distance greater than that of Jupiter--a
+very unusual thing.
+
+In the picture of a Sun-Eclipse you will notice a tiny comet quite
+near the Sun. This little comet had been hidden by the Sun’s glare and
+nobody knew it to be there at all. But when the moon glided between,
+hiding the Sun’s great brightness, and a photograph was taken--then the
+tiny comet had its picture taken also, side by side with the dark body
+of the Moon and the light edge of the Sun, with the fiery sea and sharp
+mountains.
+
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+ 1. What does the word “comet” mean?
+
+It means “a hairy star.”
+
+ 2. What is a comet like?
+
+A star-like body, with a hazy kind of fog round it, and a long tail.
+
+ 3. Do comets always have tails?
+
+No; the tail generally appears when the comet comes near to the Sun.
+
+ 4. Tell me the three parts of a comet.
+
+The Nucleus, or thickest part; the Coma, or hazy part round the
+Nucleus; and the long Tail or Train.
+
+ 5. Which of these is always found in a comet?
+
+Only the coma. The nucleus and tail may be wanting.
+
+ 6. What shape is a comet’s pathway?
+
+A long oval: sometimes very long and narrow indeed, with the Sun close
+to one end of it.
+
+ 7. How long is a comet’s year?
+
+All lengths, from three or four of our years up to hundreds of our
+years.
+
+ 8. Do all comets belong to the Solar System?
+
+No; only a certain number seem to do so.
+
+ 9. Where do others come from?
+
+They seem to come from far-distant stars, paying one visit to our Sun,
+and then going off, never to return.
+
+ 10. How does a comet carry its tail?
+
+Always pointing away from the Sun.
+
+ 11. Which goes first, head or tail?
+
+When a comet is coming towards the Sun its head journeys first. But
+when a comet is going away from the Sun, its tail journeys first.
+
+ 12. What is a comet made of?
+
+It is believed to be made partly of gases, and perhaps partly of
+meteors.
+
+ 13. Is a comet heavy, or light?
+
+Very light indeed, compared with its great size.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+LITTLE METEORS.
+
+
+Meteors are the very smallest bodies of which we know, that float and
+rush about in the sky.
+
+Besides being the smallest they are also the most abundant. Their
+numbers are not only past counting, but past our power to imagine.
+
+We cannot see them as they speed hither and thither through the skies,
+travelling either alone or in tens of millions.
+
+Each one indeed gives forth its tiny light, borrowed from the Sun. But
+those dim gleams are far too weak to reach us here on Earth. The only
+time when they can be seen by us is when they come by accident into our
+air.
+
+Then indeed we do see them--not by the gentle shining which they catch
+from the Sun, but by one brilliant flash of light as they are destroyed.
+
+It is the rush through our thick air which destroys the meteors. The
+air always tries to hold back anything moving fast through it.
+
+A meteor far away in the sky is a hard and cold little body--very cold
+indeed, out in the terrible cold of Space. It has no light of its own
+to give forth.
+
+And in the sky a meteor goes very fast, rushing round the Sun. When it
+first gets into our air it keeps up that great speed. The air tries to
+hold it back; and the rubbing of the air against it heats the outside
+of the little meteor so intensely that it glows with bright light.
+
+It becomes in fact “white-hot.” The outside melts and pours away in a
+stream of shining dust, which to us looks like a tail of light. The
+dust soon cools, and drops gently down upon the ground.
+
+Before the meteor has rushed twenty or thirty miles it is generally
+done for. All of it has gone off in bright dust, and nothing is left of
+the tiny heavenly body except that dust.
+
+This is what you see when you look at a “shooting star” after dark.
+Of course you have seen shooting stars very often. If not, you should
+begin to look out for them as soon as possible.
+
+A shooting star is no star at all, really. It is only a little meteor,
+or meteorite, which has travelled for ages in the skies, and which has
+at last happened to come too near to our Earth. The strong pull of the
+Earth’s attraction has dragged it into the air, and so it has perished.
+
+Hundreds and thousands of meteors are ever dropping earthward. If
+it were not for our soft protecting air we should be under a regular
+cannonade from the sky; but happily most of the cannon-balls are used
+up long before they can reach the ground.
+
+On the Moon, where there is no protecting air, one would have to
+undergo a fearful battering.
+
+Now and again a meteor is large enough not to be _all_ destroyed in its
+rush downwards. A good part is melted, and runs away as a little tail
+of brightness, but both speed and heat grow less before the whole is
+gone.
+
+So then part falls to the ground as a solid stone, or as a lump of
+iron and other metals. We call the fallen lump an “aerolite” or a
+“meteorite,” or a “meteoric stone.” But it is commonly just a meteor
+which has come to us out of the sky.
+
+Some very large aerolites have been known to burst in the air with a
+great noise, and to scatter hot stones over the land below. This sort
+of thing happens very seldom.
+
+There are wonderful Rings of Meteors journeying round the Sun--enormous
+companies of millions upon millions of little dark cold bodies, lighted
+up by the Sun’s rays.
+
+Every August and November our Earth in her journeying touches one such
+Ring. In those months a great many more “shooting stars” may be seen
+in the sky than at other times of the year. So, when you want to see
+shooting stars, remember that the best times are August and November.
+If then you watch the sky steadily after dark for half an hour you will
+hardly fail to see at least two or three.
+
+About once in every thirty-three years our Earth plunges into the very
+thick of one of these Meteor-Rings. And then indeed we may have a
+splendid sight!
+
+Tens of thousands of meteors can be seen flashing through the air, each
+with its little train of light behind. Fast as they appear and vanish
+tens of thousands more follow; and for hours this goes on.
+
+Yet even then the number of meteors which can be seen is as nothing
+compared with the vast hosts which cannot be seen because they do not
+come into our air.
+
+Sometimes comets and meteor-rings are found together, journeying in
+company. That is to say, the comet journeys with the meteors, in the
+same ring or pathway round the Sun. This really seems to show that the
+one may belong to the other.
+
+I have told you already that comets, or at least comets’ heads, are
+believed to be made partly of little meteors. If things are so, one
+would not be surprised to find a very close tie between comets and
+rings of meteors.
+
+You will remember Biela’s Comet, spoken of in the last chapter, which
+some people think has actually broken up into separate meteors.
+
+It is thought very likely that the wonderful Rings of Saturn are
+entirely made of meteors. Not of bright dying meteors, as we see them
+in our air, but of countless millions of tiny hard bodies, all whirling
+together round and round the huge planet, and giving forth such light
+as they can borrow from the Sun.
+
+Sometimes on the Earth a faint light is seen, of a sugar-loaf shape, in
+the eastern sky, before dawn, or in the western sky after sunset. It is
+called the Zodiacal Light, and it plainly has to do with the Sun. It is
+always seen very near to the Sun, never anywhere else.
+
+We know little about this curious light, but it too _may_ be caused by
+the shining of enormous numbers of meteors, all whirling round the Sun.
+No doubt countless multitudes are ever dropping down upon his fiery
+surface.
+
+Each little meteor that journeys round the Sun shined, like the worlds,
+on one side only--that side which is towards the Sun.
+
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+ 1. What are Meteors?
+
+The smallest heavenly bodies known to us.
+
+ 2. How many meteors are there?
+
+Immense multitudes in the sky, beyond our power even to imagine.
+
+ 3. How do meteors shine when journeying in the sky?
+
+They shine by borrowed sunlight.
+
+ 4. Does a meteor shine all round?
+
+No; only on that side which is towards the Sun.
+
+ 5. Do we see meteors by means of that borrowed sunlight?
+
+No; we only see them when they rush into our air.
+
+ 6. What makes them visible to us then?
+
+They are so much heated by the rubbing of the air as to shine brightly
+for a moment with their own light.
+
+ 7. What becomes of such meteors?
+
+The outside is melted and streams behind as shining dust.
+
+ 8. Does any part of them reach the ground?
+
+Generally they are destroyed in their rush through the air, and only
+the dust drops downwards.
+
+ 9. Are they always quite destroyed?
+
+Sometimes a part escapes, if the meteor is rather large, and then a
+solid lump of rock or metal comes to the ground.
+
+ 10. What is such a lump called?
+
+A Meteorite, or an Aerolite, or a Meteoric Stone.
+
+ 11. What is it really?
+
+Part of a meteor from the sky.
+
+ 12. What do we call a meteor seen only by its last flash?
+
+Either a “meteor” or “a shooting star.”
+
+ 13. When are shooting-stars most common?
+
+In August and November.
+
+ 14. Why?
+
+Because our Earth then touches meteor rings, and so a great many come
+into our air.
+
+ 15. When does our Earth plunge deep into a meteor-ring?
+
+About once in every thirty-three years.
+
+ 16. What is seen then?
+
+A most wonderful display of tens of thousands of meteors.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+THE SUN’S KINGDOM.
+
+
+By this time you have a pretty fair idea of what is meant by “The Solar
+System.”
+
+First you had to think about our Earth’s pathway in the sky, and then
+about other pathways, nearer and farther, like vast oval hoops lying
+within and without the Earth’s pathways. Lying, all of them, very
+nearly on the same level.
+
+But the Planetoids’ paths do not keep at all nearly to that level,
+rings of Meteors slope about in different ways, and Comets come and go,
+with no known rule, from any part of the heavens.
+
+When we talk of a “level” in the sky--a “plane” is the better word--you
+must not think of a solid flat surface any more than you have to
+picture real pathways for the planets. No signposts mark the pathways,
+and the level or plane cannot be _seen_, except by the way in which the
+worlds journey.
+
+How far the Solar System reaches, and where it stops, I cannot tell you.
+
+The Sun’s power goes out beyond his own kingdom: for the distant Stars
+feel his pull. Only that gentle pull is very much weaker than the
+strong hold which he has over all his own worlds.
+
+Neptune is the most distant world known to us; and Neptune, as you have
+heard, is some 2,800 millions of miles away from the Sun.
+
+He is all that way off on one side of the Sun and when he gets round
+to the other side he is just as far off in the other direction. So the
+breadth of Neptune’s whole pathway, from side to side, is not much less
+than _six thousand millions of miles_.
+
+All the other worlds or planets are within that enormous circle, nearer
+to the Sun.
+
+But there are comets belonging to the Sun which journey farther off
+than Neptune and yet come back from time to time, being held captive by
+the Sun.
+
+Whether our Solar System as a whole is six or ten or twenty thousands
+of millions of miles across, matters very little. In any case, it is
+enormous. And yet, though so enormous, the whole Solar System is but
+one little spot in the great Universe of Stars which God has created.
+
+The one Star in our System is the Sun himself. All other Stars are far
+away, outside his kingdom and away from it.
+
+Once upon a time, indeed, the worlds may all have been stars; and
+the larger planets seem to be still only half-way out of their starry
+state. Still they are all either cooled or partly-cooled worlds; not
+stars.
+
+A Star is a Sun: and a Sun is a Star. A world, whether cold or hot,
+if it does not shine by its own light cannot be called a star. We see
+abundance of stars in the sky, but they are so distant that our Sun,
+compared with them, is very near us indeed.
+
+A wide, wide gulf of cold and darkness, of emptiness and desolation,
+spreads far on every side around our Sun’s kingdom.
+
+That is to say, a wide gulf of what would be cold to our earthly
+bodies, of what would be darkness to our human eyes, of what looks like
+emptiness and desolation to our little knowledge. But after all, we
+cannot see much, we do not really know much!
+
+The distance of our Sun has been found out, and the distances of a few
+Stars have been roughly measured. But what may lie between us and them,
+who can tell?
+
+We are here on our little Earth, down at the bottom of a deep Ocean
+of Air, tied and bound and unable to get away. What man has seen and
+learned from the bottom of his air-ocean is indeed very wonderful; but
+more wonderful by far are the things which he does not know.
+
+In earlier chapters we have talked about the worlds in smaller sizes,
+letting one inch stand always for 2,000 miles.
+
+Now, keeping to exactly that same plan, let us try to picture the
+Solar System on a little scale, with not only sizes but distances thus
+brought down.
+
+The actual distances you know by this time, perhaps, pretty well. You
+know that Mercury is about 35 millions of miles from the Sun, the Earth
+about 92 millions, and so on. But it is not easy to see what these
+figures really mean, millions and billions sound so much alike.
+
+So now we will fancy the whole big System shrinking and getting smaller
+till in every part of it each 2,000 miles has become one tiny inch. Our
+small moon, being 2,000 miles through, is thus a minute ball one inch
+through.
+
+Bring before your mind the thought of a large shining balloon, for the
+Sun, about 35 feet through. This would be in the centre.
+
+Mercury, a crab-apple one inch and a half through, will float round the
+Sun at a distance of _one quarter of a mile_.
+
+Venus, a very large apple, nearly four inches through, will float round
+it at a distance from the Sun of about _half a mile_.
+
+Earth, another very big apple, rather bigger than Venus, has her
+pathway all round at a distance of _three quarters of a mile_. Ten
+feet off from the Earth floats her tiny Moon.
+
+Mars, another very small apple, two inches through, is more than _one
+mile_ off from the Sun, with two tiny moons.
+
+Jupiter, a large globe three feet and a half through, travels with his
+five moons at a distance of about _three miles and three quarters_--the
+Planetoids lying between him and Mars.
+
+Saturn, a globe three feet through, goes round with his moons and rings
+at a distance of about _seven miles_.
+
+Uranus, a ball less than one foot and a half through, floats with his
+four moons in a pathway over _fourteen miles_ off from the Sun.
+
+Neptune, the outer planet, a rather bigger ball than Uranus, with one
+moon, travels at a distance of over _twenty-one miles_.
+
+So, on this little scale, the whole pathway of Neptune would be
+somewhere about forty-two miles across.
+
+All the other worlds would have their journeys inside that circle. Only
+comets would go farther off than Neptune’s pathway.
+
+Where now must we put the very nearest star known to us in all the sky?
+
+On this scale we must put it about TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND MILES AWAY!
+
+And every single inch in those two hundred thousand miles would stand
+for 2,000 miles of _real_ star-distance.
+
+Now do you begin to see what an enormous gap divides us from the stars?
+
+If we could bring down the whole of the great Solar System to so small
+a size that it could lie between New York and West Point _then_ the
+very nearest star known to us would be nearly as far away as the Moon
+is from the Earth. The nearest star would be 200,000 miles off. Our
+Moon now is 240,000 miles off.
+
+And this great gap is around the Sun’s kingdom on all sides, stretching
+away in every direction. We have not found one single star _nearer_
+than that, though countless multitudes of stars are very, very much
+farther away.
+
+Can you picture to yourself a little Solar System lying between New
+York, and West Point--the whole of it there, unless perhaps a few
+comets might stray a short way beyond; all the worlds, all the moons,
+all the meteors, nearly all the comets, doing their yearly journeys
+round and round in this space of forty-two miles?
+
+And then, around that small kingdom of worlds, a great blank empty
+space, north and south, east and west, above and below, in every
+direction, nearly as far as the Moon in our sky before a single star
+could be reached!
+
+How very, very distant they are you begin now to see; do you not?
+
+At first the Moon seemed a long way off, compared with any country in
+our world; till we began to think of the Sun. And then, compared with
+the Sun, the Moon seemed near.
+
+And the Sun seemed a very long way off, compared with the Moon; till
+we began to think of Neptune. And then, compared with Neptune, the Sun
+seemed near.
+
+And Neptune seemed a very, very long way off, compared with the Sun;
+till we began to think of the nearest Star. And then, compared with
+that Star, Neptune seemed near.
+
+And even the very closest of the Stars, which, compared with Neptune,
+seems so desperately far away, would, as compared with yet more distant
+Stars, seem almost near!
+
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+ 1. How far does the Solar System reach?
+
+Nobody can say; but at all events beyond Neptune’s pathway.
+
+ 2. Has the Sun any power beyond his own kingdom?
+
+He has power to attract other stars.
+
+ 3. Does he pull other stars as strongly as he pulls his worlds?
+
+No: much more gently, because of their great distance.
+
+ 4. How many stars are in our Solar System?
+
+Only one star, the Sun.
+
+ 5. What lies round our System, between us and all the stars?
+
+A wide empty space of cold and darkness.
+
+ 6. Do we really know that it is empty?
+
+We can only say that it seems empty to us. We _know_ very little about
+the matter.
+
+ 7. If we let one inch stand for 2,000 miles, how large will the whole
+ Solar System be?
+
+Less than 50 miles across. It would lie between New York and West Point.
+
+ 8. Does this mean the whole of it?
+
+The whole of which we know. Some comets may wander a little farther.
+
+ 9. On that small scale, how near would Mercury be to the Sun?
+
+About a quarter of a mile off.
+
+ 10. And Venus?
+
+About half a mile off.
+
+ 11. And the Earth?
+
+About three quarters of a mile off.
+
+ 12. And Mars?
+
+Over one mile off.
+
+ 13. And Jupiter?
+
+About three miles and three quarters off.
+
+ 14. And Saturn?
+
+About seven miles off.
+
+ 15. And Uranus?
+
+Over fourteen miles off.
+
+ 16. And Neptune?
+
+More than twenty-one miles off.
+
+ 17. And the nearest Star?
+
+About two hundred thousand miles off.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+A STARRY UNIVERSE.
+
+
+I wonder how many of the Stars you know by sight, so as to be able
+to point them out one by one, and say, “That is Sirius,” or “That is
+Arcturus,” or “That is Capella,” or “That is the Pole-star.”
+
+We are not now thinking of Planets, but of Stars; not of Worlds, but
+of Suns; not of our little Solar System, but of the great _Stellar
+System_, or Universe of Stars.
+
+Our Sun and all his worlds belong to that Starry Universe. And no doubt
+countless other worlds, as well as countless other suns, belong to it
+also.
+
+In long-past days the name of “fixed stars” was given to the greater
+number of shining points in the sky. They are called “fixed” to make
+a difference between them and the planets, which are seen to be _not_
+fixed.
+
+Of course all the stars, like all the planets, seem to travel each
+night across the sky. We have explained this already, and you know
+quite well now that their nightly journey from east to west is only a
+seeming journey--only caused by our Earth’s spinning from west to east.
+
+But even thus the stars are “fixed” as they go; for all move in the
+same direction and at the same speed. One star does not travel here and
+another there, in opposite ways. All travel the same way. Each group
+of stars keeps always its own shape. Each star has its own particular
+place among other stars. It is as if the whole sky moved round in one
+piece.
+
+The planets behave quite differently. A planet is seen to change its
+place from day to day, from month to month, _among_ the stars. Now it
+is in this group, and now it is in that group. Now it goes forward, and
+now it seems to travel backward; or again it appears to stop, and then
+starts off anew.
+
+These movements of the planets are a mixture of real movements and of
+seeming movements. They are partly brought about by our Earth’s own
+journeying.
+
+With the stars no such changes are seen. They remain always the same,
+always fixed in the same groups. These groups are commonly called
+“_Constellations_.”
+
+The Little Bear’s tail-tip never wanders away from the Little Bear’s
+body. The four chief body-stars of the Great Bear never part company.
+Orion’s sword never breaks up, and his belt is always made of three
+stars in a row, and his feet keep ever at the same distance from his
+head. Therefore the stars are called “fixed.”
+
+And yet they are not fixed.
+
+So far as we can tell, every single Star in the sky, like every Planet,
+has its own movement. Stars as well as worlds are on the rush. Although
+we cannot actually _see_ all to be moving, we may safely say that all
+do move.
+
+It seems to us, indeed, as impossible for the stars to be at rest as it
+is for the planets to be at rest.
+
+You remember why the planets have to be always hastening along their
+pathways round the Sun. If one of the worlds came to a stop it would at
+once begin to fall towards the Sun, drawn by the Sun’s great pull; and
+perhaps it might end by dropping into the crimson fiery sea.
+
+And it is much the same with the stars.
+
+Just as the Sun and planets all pull or attract one another, so
+the stars all pull or attract one another. Each star draws all his
+neighbor-stars and is drawn by them.
+
+If there were nothing to meet this perpetual _pull_ of every star for
+every other star, then all the stars in the universe would surely in
+time rush together and become one enormous heap of Suns.
+
+But there is something to meet and overcome this pull. The stars, too,
+are in motion. Each radiant Sun, by his own swift rush through the sky,
+so overcomes the pull of other stars that he can keep apart from them
+as he journeys.
+
+Some go only a few miles each second, like the planets Jupiter and
+Saturn. Some go as fast as Mars or the Earth. Some rival the flight of
+Mercury. Others far surpass any of the worlds in speed. There are stars
+hastening through the sky at a rate of over one hundred, and over two
+hundred, and even over three hundred miles each second.
+
+Yet, despite all these journeyings, the stars remain fixed. Century
+after century we see them overhead in changeless groups.
+
+How can it be so? If each star is taking its own onward journey along
+its own separate pathway at a rate of at least tens of thousands of
+miles every day, surely we ought to see them moving. Surely a star
+ought to get nearer to its neighbor on one side, and farther from its
+neighbor on the other side. How can it be otherwise if all the stars
+move, and if no two move at just the same speed?
+
+That is exactly what the stars are doing. Each star gets daily nearer
+or farther away from each of its neighbor stars.
+
+And yet they seem to us to remain fixed. The star-groups are still the
+same in shape as when our forefathers looked upon them.
+
+No: we cannot see such changes commonly. And I will tell you why we
+cannot. It is because our lives are not long enough.
+
+Think once more about the movement of clouds as seen from the ground. A
+small cloud, low down, will appear to hurry across the sky at a great
+pace. But you may look for perhaps half-an-hour at far-away clouds,
+very high up, and notice no change in them.
+
+This does not mean that the clouds high up do not stir. They may be
+actually moving quite as fast as the little cloud down below. Only,
+they are so far distant that the movement seems very slow--too slow to
+be seen at all, it may be, in one short half-hour.
+
+The stars are enormously more distant than the very highest cloud ever
+seen. However fast they really move those movements are very small,
+very tiny, as watched from the Earth; so small and tiny that the lives
+of many men, one after another, are, all together, too short a time for
+the seeing of star-journeyings from the Earth. Only a very few can be
+found out thus, by most careful watching.
+
+Among the hosts of travelling stars is our own Sun.
+
+We have spoken so far of the Sun as if he were fixed in one place,
+always at rest in the midst of his worlds.
+
+And so far as he has to do with the planets he is at rest. That is to
+say, he is always in one place _for them_. He is always about the same
+distance from Mercury, from the Earth, from Jupiter, and from Neptune.
+He is always just in the middle of the Solar System.
+
+Yet he is not really at rest. He too travels as the other stars travel.
+He too is on the move--going somewhere in the skies; where, I cannot
+tell you.
+
+And as he speeds onward he carries with him all his company of worlds
+and moons, of comets and meteors. They are no trouble at all to him. He
+carries them in the strong grasp of his attraction as easily as you in
+walking might bear along with you a muff or a hand-bag.
+
+If you were asked how many stars can be seen any clear night in the
+sky, you would very likely say--“Oh, thousands and thousands!” You
+might even reply, “Millions!”
+
+But nobody ever yet saw a million stars without the help of a
+telescope. Commonly we see at most only two or three thousand stars;
+and not often so many at once.
+
+For convenience the stars are arranged in Classes, first, second,
+third, and so on, like the classes in a school.
+
+These Classes are spoken of as Magnitudes, which means “Sizes.” But the
+stars really are put into Classes according to their _brightnesses_:
+not according to their sizes.
+
+We know very little as yet about the true sizes of the stars. They all
+look to us, in even the biggest telescopes, as mere bright points,
+showing no size at all. Some of the brighter stars may be much smaller
+than others which seem to us more dim.
+
+The shining of a star in our sky depends upon two things. It depends
+partly on the size and brightness of the star. It depends partly on the
+nearness of that star to the Earth.
+
+All we are able to do is to arrange them in classes according to their
+_brightness_ as seen from the Earth.
+
+Those which shine the most are called Stars of the First Magnitude;
+those which come next in brightness are called Stars of the Second
+Magnitude; and so on.
+
+In the whole sky all around the Earth there are only about twenty Stars
+of the First Magnitude. Those twenty stars are mere bright points in
+the sky; none of them so bright as Venus and Jupiter look to us.
+
+Yet they are all Suns; radiant globes of heat and light more or less
+like our own great Sun; not like a mere planet.
+
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+ 1. What is meant by the Stellar System?
+
+The Universe of Stars to which our Sun belongs.
+
+ 2. How are Planets known from Stars?
+
+The Stars remain fixed in groups, while Planets are always changing
+their places among the Stars.
+
+ 3. What is meant by “Fixed Stars?”
+
+The Stars are so called because of their fixity in certain groups.
+
+ 4. Tell me the name commonly given to groups of Stars.
+
+They are called Constellations.
+
+ 5. Name two or three Constellations mentioned in this chapter.
+
+The Little Bear; the Great Bear; Orion.
+
+ 6. Are the Stars really fixed?
+
+No; they are believed to be all moving.
+
+ 7. If the Stars are moving why do we not see it?
+
+Because of their immense distance from us. Our lives are not long
+enough for us to see most of the Stars change their places in our sky.
+
+ 8. Is the Sun at rest?
+
+Our Sun journeys like other stars through the sky.
+
+ 9. Does he ever leave his planets behind?
+
+No; he carries them all with him.
+
+ 10. How does he do so?
+
+By means of his powerful attraction.
+
+ 11. What is the meaning of “Magnitude?”
+
+The word “Magnitude” means “Size.”
+
+ 12. What is meant by Star-Magnitudes?
+
+The Stars are divided into different classes, called Magnitudes--such
+as Stars of the First Magnitude, Stars of the Second Magnitude.
+
+ 13. Are all Stars of the First Magnitude larger than all other Stars?
+
+No; it is a question of brightness, and not of size.
+
+ 14. What do we really mean by Stars of the First Magnitude?
+
+We mean those stars in our sky which shine more brightly, as seen from
+the Earth, than any other stars.
+
+ 15. Does not brighter shining show greater size?
+
+It may sometimes show greater size, or it may only show greater
+nearness to the Earth.
+
+ 16. How many Stars of the First Magnitude are there?
+
+About twenty altogether, round the whole sky.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+STAR-GROUPS.
+
+
+The names of different Star-Groups are very old indeed. On a map or
+globe of the heavens you may see them pictured, with the figure of an
+animal or a man from which the name of the Constellation is taken.
+
+These figures were no doubt a help, in very early times, when people
+wished to learn the different stars; though the star-groups can hardly
+be said to bear any real likeness to the figures.
+
+As we journey round the Sun, month by month, we see him against
+different Star-groups in the heavens--against one constellation after
+another.
+
+Actually, of course, we do _not_ see the Sun against the stars, since
+all stars beyond the Sun are hidden by his brightness. But we see at
+night those stars which lie in the _opposite_ direction, and we know
+each month, without seeing, which group lies exactly _behind the Sun_.
+
+Suppose you are in a room with a lighted lamp on a table in the middle.
+And suppose you walk slowly round the table.
+
+As you go you will see the lamp against different parts of the room
+in turn. First, perhaps, against a window, then against a wall, then
+against a fireplace, then against a door, then against another wall,
+then against a sideboard or chiffonier, and so on.
+
+The lamp itself does not stir; but you, by moving onward, change its
+background and give it a sort of “seeming pathway” round the room. If
+it were very far away, instead of very close, it might really appear to
+you to be moving.
+
+This is how we see the Sun seem to travel among the different
+star-groups. He does not go any nearer to the stars than usual; he only
+comes _between_ them and us. In fact he does not really go or come;
+but as we move on we make him lie between us and one star-group after
+another.
+
+Twelve constellations are behind this seeming pathway of the Sun, and
+they are called “The Signs of the Zodiac.” It would be a good plan
+to learn them by heart some day. Here are the names of the twelve
+star-groups in English and in Latin:
+
+  The Ram                Aries.
+  The Bull               Taurus.
+  The Twins              Gemini.
+  The Crab               Cancer.
+  The Lion               Leo.
+  The Virgin             Virgo.
+  The Scales             Libra.
+  The Scorpion           Scorpio.
+  The Archer             Sagittarius.
+  The Goat               Capricornus.
+  The Water-carrier      Aquarius.
+  The Fishes             Pisces.
+
+In all these twelve groups we find only five stars of the first
+magnitude.
+
+Besides those particular star-groups which lie behind the Sun as we
+journey there are many other constellations in all parts of the sky.
+
+Certain stars in the southern half of the heavens can be seen by
+people living on the northern half of our Earth. And certain stars in
+the northern half of the heavens can be seen by people living on the
+southern half of our Earth.
+
+But the very far north stars, lying over, or very nearly over, our
+north pole, are never seen at all in the far south of the Earth. And
+the very south stars, lying over, or very nearly over, our south pole,
+are never seen at all in the far north of the Earth.
+
+People living, for instance, in South Australia cannot get a glimpse of
+the Pole-star or the Great Bear; and people living in England or in
+New England cannot get a glimpse of the Southern Cross.
+
+Remember that, either way, whether from the north pole or from the
+south pole of the Earth, a man always looks _up_ into the sky. The
+heavens are always _upward_. The sky above the south pole is no more
+_downward_ than the sky above the north pole. All the “downward” of
+which we know is towards the centre or middle of our Earth.
+
+Nobody now need sit looking up at the sky and saying,
+
+  “Twinkle, twinkle, little star;
+  How I wonder what you are!”
+
+for we know what the stars are.
+
+I do not mean for a moment that we know all about them, or that we have
+not an immense amount still to learn. But we do certainly know what
+they are. They are _Suns_.
+
+The twinkling is not a part of the stars themselves. It is brought
+about by the way in which the little rays of star-light travel through
+our air. If we could get away from the Earth, right outside the air, we
+should then see the stars to shine steadily, without any twinkling.
+
+Jupiter and Venus and other planets do not twinkle when we look upon
+them. You may usually know a planet from a star by its not twinkling.
+
+No planet can ever be seen by us, even through the very biggest of
+telescopes, at such an enormous distance as that of the nearest star.
+For the planets shine by borrowed light, as our Moon shines; and you
+know how dim moonlight is, compared with sunlight. Only a sun, shining
+with the brilliance of its own great heat, can possibly be seen so
+very, very far away.
+
+Any number of worlds may be there: cooled worlds, like our Earth;
+half-cooled worlds, like Jupiter and Saturn--such worlds journeying
+round distant stars as the planets of the Solar System journey round
+our Sun. Only if they are there we cannot know it; our eyes cannot make
+them out.
+
+Suppose you and I could go for a long, long journey through the skies,
+straight from our Earth away to the star Alpha Centauri. That is the
+nearest star in all the heavens of which we yet know.
+
+Alpha Centauri is a very bright star, one of the First Magnitude. But
+you cannot see it in our northern skies. You would have to go much
+farther south to get a sight of Alpha Centauri.
+
+Suppose that we were to start on this vast journey, taking with us
+the great Lick telescope of California. And suppose that all the way
+we never once looked back in this direction until we reached the
+neighborhood of that bright star--until we got near enough to see
+Alpha Centauri as a large radiant Sun.
+
+Then suppose that we turned round and gazed through the big telescope
+towards this little Earth left so far behind.
+
+What do you think we should see?
+
+No Earth at all! No Moon! No Jupiter, no Venus, no Mars, no planets! No
+great, warm, glowing Sun! Only one little faint distant star sending
+forth its feeble glimmer!
+
+All else would have vanished utterly. At the distance of the nearest
+star, nobody, looking in this direction, with man’s eyes and with such
+telescopes as we have on Earth, could find out anything at all about
+the Solar System. All the worlds and their moons would be hidden. The
+very most that anyone could see would be our Sun, as one tiny star.
+
+Just so we on the Earth gaze at the far-off stars; and we see them
+shining as lonely suns with no worlds travelling round them. Yet they
+_may_ not be lonely. Any one of those stars _may_ have its own great
+kingdom of worlds. Any number of planets _may_ be there. Who can tell?
+We are not able to know, because the gentle shining of borrowed or
+reflected light cannot possibly reach to such a distance. The most that
+we have any right to say is that we are not able to _see_ any worlds
+belonging to the stars.
+
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+ 1. What is meant by the Signs of the Zodiac?
+
+The twelve constellations against which in turn the Sun is seen in the
+course of a year.
+
+ 2. How is the Sun seen against these constellations?
+
+In consequence of our Earth’s yearly journey round the Sun.
+
+ 3. Do we actually see the stars beyond the Sun?
+
+No; for all stars in the same direction as the Sun are hidden by his
+brightness.
+
+ 4. Tell me the names of the twelve constellations.
+
+Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius,
+Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces.
+
+ 5. How many very bright stars are in those constellations?
+
+Five stars of the first magnitude.
+
+ 6. Can all stars in the sky be seen from all parts of the Earth?
+
+No. Some stars to the far north are never seen in the far south; and
+some stars to the far south are never seen in the far north.
+
+ 7. Tell me of a constellation never seen from Australia.
+
+The Great Bear.
+
+ 8. Tell me of a star-group never seen from New England.
+
+The Southern Cross.
+
+ 9. What are Stars?
+
+Stars are Suns.
+
+ 10. Why do Stars twinkle?
+
+Only because of the way in which their light travels through our air.
+
+ 11. Tell me of one way by which we may know planets from stars?
+
+A star generally twinkles; and a planet generally does not twinkle.
+
+ 12. Do any planets belong to the distant stars?
+
+Any of the stars may have worlds belonging to them, but we cannot see
+such worlds.
+
+ 13. Why cannot we see them?
+
+Because the distance is too great.
+
+ 14. Why should we see a star if we cannot see a planet at that
+ distance?
+
+A star shines by its own light. A planet shines only by reflected
+light, therefore much more dimly.
+
+ 15. If we could journey to the nearest known star, how much should we
+ see of the Solar System?
+
+No planets nor moon at all: nothing but the Sun as one dim star.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+GIANT-SUNS AND CLUSTERS.
+
+
+All stars do not shine alike. They are different in brightness,
+different in size, different in speed.
+
+There are brilliant suns and dim suns, great suns and little suns,
+fast suns and slow suns, in the universe of stars, just as there are
+brilliant worlds and dim worlds, great worlds and little worlds, fast
+worlds and slow worlds, in our Solar System.
+
+But the brightest star is not always truly the biggest star; just as
+the brightest planet in our sky is by no means always the largest world.
+
+You know how bright Venus is--a good deal brighter than Jupiter. Yet
+Venus is far, far smaller than Jupiter. Venus is brighter because she
+is so much the nearer of the two, not at all because of greater size.
+
+The very brightest star in our whole sky is SIRIUS. Yet you must not
+suppose that Sirius is larger in himself than any other star. He is
+brighter partly because he is so much _nearer_ than most other stars.
+
+I do not mean to say that Sirius is what one would call a very near
+star, if such a word can be used about any single star in the sky.
+Alpha Centauri, though the nearest of which we know, is not really
+near; and Sirius is perhaps nearly twice as far off as Alpha. That,
+however, is not much, compared with the enormous distances of many
+stars.
+
+Sirius is no doubt a splendid Sun, most likely larger and brighter than
+our Sun. But our Sun is not so very particularly large as a star among
+stars. He is only large as a Sun among little worlds. Sirius may very
+well be bigger than our Sun and yet be by no means one of the biggest
+stars in the sky.
+
+No one has yet been able to measure the actual size of Sirius, because
+he always looks to us like one point of light. But we know about how
+far off he is, and we know that our Sun at that same distance would not
+be so bright a star as Sirius is. This looks as though Sirius were the
+larger Sun of the two, only without any very startling difference.
+
+Matters are otherwise when we turn to ARCTURUS.
+
+Sirius is in the southern half of the heavens, and Arcturus is perhaps
+the very brightest star in all the northern half of the heavens, though
+a good way behind Sirius in radiance.
+
+Arcturus seems to be a truly wonderful Sun. He is eleven millions of
+times farther away from us than our Sun is. Imagine what this means!
+If you had a rope 92 millions of miles long, reaching from our Earth to
+the Sun, you would need _eleven millions_ of such ropes, joined end to
+end, to reach from the Earth to Arcturus!
+
+If our Sun were moved to where Arcturus is we should see him only as a
+very dim star indeed. But Arcturus is one of the most brilliant stars
+in our sky.
+
+This seems to show that he must be an enormous Sun: a very giant among
+giants; so huge that our great Sun would perhaps be but as a little
+ball by his side.
+
+Capella, one of our most beautiful northern stars, is believed to
+be another giant Sun. Our Sun, at the distance of Capella, would be
+only just visible without a telescope, while Capella is almost, if
+not quite, as bright as Arcturus. Since the radiance of Capella is
+certainly not caused by nearness it is most likely caused by great size.
+
+So, although Sirius may be to us “the monarch of the starry skies,” he
+is monarch only in appearance. He is brightest because he is one of
+the nearer stars, not because he is really one of the very largest.
+Arcturus, Capella, and others also, are believed far to surpass him in
+size.
+
+In this little book I must not even try to tell you many of the wonders
+of the starry heavens. If you wish to learn more you will by-and-by
+read in other books about the many-colored suns which are seen in
+telescopes, and the pairs of suns which journey through the skies in
+company.[3]
+
+[3] See “Sun, Moon and Stars,” pp. 283-286.
+
+You will read also about the curious changeable stars, which get
+bright and dim by turns; and about the extraordinary New Stars, which
+sometimes appear and last for a while, and then vanish again.[4]
+
+[4] Ibid. pp. 279-282.
+
+I am only going to tell you now a very little about Star-Clusters and
+Nebulæ.
+
+A Star-Cluster is just what its name says it is--a Cluster of Stars
+very near together. Near, as seen by us at this distance; not always
+really near.
+
+A great many star-clusters are known, and some can be seen without a
+telescope, while others are mere specks even in a fairly good telescope.
+
+In some clusters only about one or two hundred stars are seen. In
+others we find a countless multitude of stars--thousands of suns
+seemingly packed together in a mass.
+
+The _packed_ look comes from great distance. If we were near enough
+we should see the suns of such a cluster to be well apart--perhaps
+even very widely separated. You know how the trees of a forest,
+which close at hand stand apart, seem in the distance to shrink close
+together. That is how the stars do.
+
+[Illustration: _The Nebula in Andromeda._]
+
+One very important cluster you may easily see any clear winter
+evening--the cluster of the Pleiades. Most people can make out five or
+six dim stars; and through a mere opera-glass a hundred may be counted.
+
+The word “nebula” means “a cloud.” _Nebulæ_ is the plural, meaning
+_clouds_.
+
+But the Nebulæ are not fleeting and watery clouds, like our
+Earth-clouds. They are pale patches of light in the sky, fixed as the
+stars themselves--in one spot century after century.
+
+Only two or three of the nebulæ can be seen without a telescope. The
+brightest of them all is a faint patch in the star-group Andromeda; and
+the next brightest is “The Great Nebulæ” in the constellation Orion.
+
+Photographs are now taken of the nebula, and we thus see more of their
+true shapes than could ever be found out by simply gazing at them with
+our own eyes, which so soon get tired.
+
+It used once to be thought that a Nebula was only a very, very far off
+star-cluster--too far for the largest telescope ever to make us able to
+see the little separate star-points.
+
+But it has now been found that many of the nebulæ are not clusters of
+stars at all; they are made of shining gases.
+
+Gases out there in the distant sky, it is supposed, do not burn away,
+like gas here on the Earth, because in the sky, far off, there is no
+air, and nothing can _burn away_ without air. Only when the great
+masses of gas are very hot they shine with their own heat; and instead
+of burning away they go on shining, year after year. That is how we see
+them.
+
+Some nebulæ are made partly of gases and partly of stars. And some
+star-clusters have a good deal of shining gas round about the stars.
+
+For a long while nobody knew that there was any bright gas round the
+stars of the Pleiades cluster. But lately, in some photographs taken
+of the Pleiades, a curious soft haze has come out round several of the
+stars, as you may see for yourself in a photograph which tells a truer
+tale than our eyes can tell.
+
+Do you remember hearing that a star is, most likely, a young world not
+yet cooled? Well, it _may_ be that a nebula is a young sun, or cluster
+of suns, not yet shaped.
+
+These things we cannot know with certainty. We can only say what is
+believed to be most likely the right explanation.
+
+[Illustration: _The Great Nebula in Orion._]
+
+Perhaps you have sometimes noticed across the sky at night a band of
+pale light, wider here, narrower there.
+
+In a clear evening, after dark, it may always be seen, and it is called
+THE MILKY WAY.
+
+Stars lie scattered over and around the Milky Way. But beyond and
+behind all the brighter stars is spread that soft pale band, which
+in itself is made up of stars--multitudes upon multitudes of distant
+suns. They are either so very distant or so very small, or perhaps both
+together, that we cannot see them as separate stars. We only see the
+general shining of them all.
+
+Through a telescope great numbers of stars can be seen in the Milky
+Way, yet still the band of hazy light always lies beyond.
+
+The Milky Way belongs to the same vast Universe of Stars to which our
+Sun belongs. Indeed, our Sun, with all his planets, is actually _in_
+the Milky Way.
+
+When you are looking up into the sky, trying to learn about the
+countless suns of the great Universe, never forget one thing--that “our
+Father in Heaven” has made them all, and is KING over them all.
+
+If we see a lovely picture, or a beautiful building, we naturally want
+to know more about the man who painted the picture or planned the
+building.
+
+Then surely, while searching into the grand distances and glory of
+the skies, we ought to lift our thoughts in reverent adoration to our
+Father in Heaven, and to the Son of God, by whom “were all things
+created that are in heaven and that are in earth.” For “_without Him
+was not anything made that was made_!”
+
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+ 1. Are stars all of the same size?
+
+No; some are large and some are small.
+
+ 2. Are the brightest stars always the largest in size?
+
+Not at all. A star may be brighter than another only because it is much
+nearer.
+
+ 3. Which is the brightest star in our heavens?
+
+Sirius, the Dog-star.
+
+ 4. Is Sirius as bright as Venus?
+
+No; but Venus is a planet, not a star.
+
+ 5. Is Sirius one of the very largest stars?
+
+Sirius is perhaps bigger than our Sun, but not one of the biggest stars.
+
+ 6. Why, then, is Sirius the brightest?
+
+Sirius is one of the nearer stars; not actually near, but far nearer
+than many others.
+
+ 7. Is our Sun one of the biggest stars?
+
+No; only a moderate-sized star.
+
+ 8. Tell the names of two giant suns.
+
+Arcturus and Capella.
+
+ 9. Why do we believe Arcturus and Capella to be larger than Sirius?
+
+Because they are both very bright stars; and yet they are very much
+farther away than Sirius.
+
+ 10. What are Star-Clusters?
+
+Clusters of hundreds or thousands of suns, so distant as to seem to us
+quite close together.
+
+ 11. What are Nebulæ?
+
+Hazy clouds like patches in the sky.
+
+ 12. What are Nebulæ made of?
+
+Some are only great masses of shining gas. Sometimes they are made of
+stars and gases together.
+
+ 13. Which are the two brightest Nebulæ?
+
+The Nebula in Andromeda and the Nebula in Orion.
+
+ 14. Tell me the name of a well-known Star-Cluster easily seen?
+
+The Pleiades.
+
+ 15. What do we learn from a photograph of the Pleiades?
+
+That some of the stars of this cluster have nebula-gas round them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+HOW TO STUDY THE SKY.
+
+
+Now I want you to get just a tiny idea of how to _begin_ to find out
+for yourself a few Planets and Stars in the sky. In one way, the
+Planets are the easier of the two to find, in another way they are the
+more difficult.
+
+They are easier because they are brighter; at least a few of them are.
+Also, they do not twinkle. That at once distinguishes them from the
+Stars.
+
+On the other hand they are a little more difficult, because they are
+always changing their places in the sky. If you learn to know some
+particular star by sight you will always find that star in the same
+place among other stars. It may be more to the east or to the west,
+according to the time of night and of the year; but it will always be
+in the very same part of the very same star-group. But a planet never
+keeps long to any particular group of stars.
+
+However, after the Sun and Moon, the easiest heavenly bodies of all to
+find are, no doubt, Venus and Jupiter.
+
+Venus is at one time of the year a Morning Planet, and at another time
+of the year an Evening Planet.
+
+You always see Venus either not very long before sunrise or not very
+long after sunset. Venus is so near to the Sun that you cannot possibly
+find her in any part of the sky very far away from the Sun.
+
+So if, in the evening, you see a bright planet away towards the east,
+you may be sure you are _not_ looking at Venus. Since the Sun has
+lately set in the west Venus will not be anywhere towards the east.
+
+But if you see a very bright untwinkling planet in the west you may be
+pretty sure that you have found Venus. “Such a lovely star,” people
+often call her. Venus is no star, however.
+
+It is the same with Mercury as with Venus, only _more so_; because
+Mercury is still closer to the Sun. So Mercury rises a shorter time
+before the Sun than Venus, or sets a shorter time after the Sun. This
+makes Mercury not so easy to see as Venus; and Mercury is never so
+brilliant as Venus, at his best.
+
+Sometimes, when you have found Venus as a shining planet towards the
+west, you will see another bright and beautiful planet, only a little
+less radiant, in quite another part of the sky; and then you have most
+likely found Jupiter. If you look through a good opera-glass you may
+perhaps get a glimpse of Jupiter’s little moons.
+
+Mars is often not at all difficult to find, because of his red color.
+He too, like Venus and Jupiter, does not twinkle. He is not, however,
+nearly so bright as Jupiter.
+
+When you begin to learn the Star-Groups it is wisest to start with
+those near the north pole.
+
+Ask somebody first to point out to you the Great Bear, with his seven
+chief stars, all fairly bright: four in the body, and three in the
+tail. Two of the body-stars are called The Pointers, because they point
+almost straight at the POLE-STAR.
+
+The end star of the Little Bear’s tail is the Pole-Star; and it lies
+almost exactly over the north pole. As our Earth spins round and round,
+so that other stars in the sky seem to journey across from east to
+west, her north pole points always to the Pole-star, and the Pole-star
+remains always overhead at the north pole.
+
+But the body of the Little Bear seems to travel round and round his own
+fixed tail-tip. _Seems_ to do so: for this is part of the great seeming
+whirl of the whole sky at night, caused by our Earth’s real spinning
+movement.
+
+In shape the Little Bear is very like the Great Bear, being made of
+seven stars, four in the body and three in the tail. Only its stars
+are a great deal more dim than the seven chief stars of the Great Bear.
+Two stars of the Little Bear are called “The Guardians of the Pole.”
+
+So now you have to fix in your mind the little faint Pole-Star as a
+starting point in your study of the heavens.
+
+Round about the Pole-Star are four important constellations which you
+ought to learn early.
+
+One of the four you know already; and that is the Great Bear--sometimes
+named “The Plough,” and “Charles’ Wain.” Perhaps the seven stars are in
+shape at least as much like to a plough, or to a wagon or a dipper, as
+they are to a bear.
+
+Away to quite the other side of the Pole-Star, and about opposite to
+the Great Bear, is a constellation named Cassiopeia. Here we find five
+bright stars shaped somewhat like an easy-chair seen sideways. There
+are no first-magnitude stars in either the Great Bear or Cassiopeia.
+
+The two other important constellations are on the two other sides of
+the Pole-Star; making with the Great Bear and Cassiopeia a sort of
+rough square of four Star-Groups, having the Pole-Star in their centre.
+
+One of the two is the Constellation Lyra; and in Lyra shines the
+beautiful first-magnitude star, VEGA.
+
+Opposite to Lyra, on the other side of the Pole-Star, is the
+Constellation Auriga; and here we come across another first-magnitude
+star, the giant-sun, CAPELLA.
+
+A certain well-known constellation, Draco, or The Dragon, winds among
+these stars-groups, passing between the Great Bear and the Little Bear,
+and so lying very near the Pole-Star.
+
+From the above-named four principal star-groups you may work your way
+southward in all directions, learning one constellation after another.
+I can now only point out a very few more.
+
+At no great distance from the Great Bear and from Lyra is a
+constellation called Boötes; and in this group is found the bright
+first-magnitude star, ARCTURUS; that giant-sun of which you have heard
+before.
+
+At no great distance from Auriga--that is, right away in the opposite
+direction from Boötes--you may note in winter months the gentle shining
+of the PLEIADES--a star-cluster in the constellation Taurus.
+
+During the winter, as you know, certain star-groups come into view
+which in summer we cannot see. No doubt you will remember that Taurus
+is one of those star-groups against which the Sun is seen, seemingly,
+to pass in the course of the year. But when you can see the Pleiades
+you will be sure that the Sun is not _then_ between us and Taurus. If
+he were, Taurus would be above the horizon at the same time as the Sun.
+And in that case, of course, we could not see Taurus at all, or the
+Pleiades.
+
+In this same star-group Taurus, is a bright first-magnitude star named
+ALDEBARAN.
+
+When you have found the Pleiades you are not far from the grandest
+star-group in the sky, the magnificent constellation of Orion.
+
+In Orion there are two first-magnitude stars, named RIGEL and
+BETELGEUSE, and many other bright stars also.
+
+The two feet-stars of Orion point in almost a straight line to the very
+brightest star in the whole sky, SIRIUS; often called “The Dog-Star,”
+because it is in the constellation Canis Major, or The Great Dog.
+
+Arcturus and Capella and Vega are brightest of all stars in the
+northern half of the sky; for Sirius is in the southern half. But not
+one of them shines as Sirius shines.
+
+Two very brilliant southern stars, CANOPUS and ALPHA CENTAURI, are
+never seen from far northern countries. Both of them are brighter than
+any other first-magnitude star except Sirius. They quite outshine
+Arcturus.
+
+Alpha Centauri, as you have heard earlier, is the very nearest star to
+the Earth the distance of which we know.
+
+But Canopus is one of the more distant stars. Since it is so very
+distant, and so very bright, we believe it to be another giant-sun.
+
+There are many more constellations besides these with which one
+ought to be acquainted. It is a good plan to look out the different
+star-groups in a map of the heavens, and then, on a clear night, to
+find them in the Sky.
+
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+ 1. Which is the easiest heavenly body to find in the Sky, after the
+ Sun and Moon?
+
+The Planet Venus.
+
+ 2. Where must you look for Venus?
+
+Always rather near the Sun.
+
+ 3. At what time of day?
+
+Sometimes in the evening, sometimes in the morning.
+
+ 4. And in what direction?
+
+The same direction as the Sun. If in the morning, Venus will be seen
+towards the east, before sunrise. If in the evening, towards the west
+after sunset.
+
+ 5. Why is Venus the easiest to find?
+
+Because she is brightest of all; brighter than all stars and all other
+planets.
+
+ 6. Where is Mercury to be found?
+
+Always near the Sun, like Venus; but Mercury is nearer still, and so is
+above the horizon a shorter time before or after the Sun.
+
+ 7. Which is the next brightest world in the sky after Venus?
+
+The planet Jupiter.
+
+ 8. Where is Jupiter to be found?
+
+In different parts of the sky at different times. He may be known by
+his brightness, second only to that of Venus.
+
+ 9. What is Mars like?
+
+Reddish in color; and of course Mars, like other planets, does not
+twinkle.
+
+ 10. Which Star remains always in one spot, as seen from Earth?
+
+The Pole-Star, over our North Pole.
+
+ 11. What constellation does the Pole-star belong to?
+
+The constellation of the Little Bear.
+
+ 12. Tell me four chief constellations grouped round the Pole-star.
+
+The Great Bear, and Cassiopeia; Lyra and Auriga.
+
+ 13. Are any first magnitude stars in these four groups?
+
+The bright star Vega, in Lyra; and the bright star Capella, in Auriga.
+
+ 14. Tell me of another constellation near the Pole-star.
+
+Draco, or the Dragon.
+
+ 15. Where is the bright star Arcturus?
+
+Arcturus is in the constellation Boötes.
+
+ 16. Where is the Pleiades cluster?
+
+The Pleiades cluster is in the constellation Taurus.
+
+ 17. Is there any first-magnitude star in Taurus?
+
+Yes, the bright star Aldebaran.
+
+ 18. Tell me of a grand star-group near the Pleiades.
+
+The constellation Orion.
+
+ 19. How many stars of the first magnitude are in Orion?
+
+Two; Rigel and Betelgeuse.
+
+ 20. Where is the brightest of stars, Sirius?
+
+In the constellation Canis Major, or The Great Dog.
+
+ 21. How can you find Sirius when you know Orion?
+
+The two feet-stars of Orion point towards Sirius.
+
+ 22. Tell me of two very brilliant southern stars.
+
+Canopus and Alpha Centauri.
+
+
+
+
+SCIENTIFIC BOOKS
+
+BY AGNES GIBERNE.
+
+
+SUN, MOON, AND STARS.
+
+A book of astronomy for beginners. 334 pages. 12mo. Revised.
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+
+
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+
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+
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+
+334 pages. 12mo. Illustrated. $1 25.
+
+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
+
+MR. GROSVENOR’S DAUGHTER.
+
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+
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+Mrs. Wright has written many interesting stories, every one with a
+useful purpose, but never one more interesting, never one with purpose
+half so practical as this. The book should be in every Sunday-school
+library.”--N. Y. EVANGELIST.
+
+
+ON A SNOW-BOUND TRAIN.
+
+By Julia MacNair Wright. 12mo. $1 25.
+
+A train on the Pacific Railway is snowed in and makes but little
+progress for nearly a week. The passengers get restless and uneasy.
+Various attempts at interesting them are tried, but none succeed so
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+
+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+which is rendered still more attractive by numerous and excellent
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+
+
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+
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+25; gilt extra, $1 75.
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+
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+
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+price.
+
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+for daily use with brief experimental comments.
+
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+
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+=Morning by Morning=; or Daily Readings for the Family or Closet. 414
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+
+=John Ploughman’s Pictures.= With 38 illus. 183 pp. 12mo. 75 cts.
+
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+
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+359 pp. $1.
+
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+
+=Sermons in Candles.= 12mo. Illustrated. $1.
+
+=Commenting and Commentaries.= 12mo. 312 pp. $1.
+
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+
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+
+
+_AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, NEW YORK._
+
+
+
+
+  Transcriber's Notes:
+
+  Italics are shown thus: _sloping_.
+
+  Bold is shown as: =strong=.
+
+  Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained.
+
+  Perceived typographical errors have been changed.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77859 ***