Middletown transcript., 1871-06-03
Scientific alme.rth.
Interesting Astronomical Facts.

The study Of astronomy has ever been
one uf interest to the thinking aud con-
tcmplaiiye mind. Late discoveries in the
science hy the aid Of the spcc,roscopc,
powerful telescopes and other scientific in
,trumcn,s for measuring distances, etc,
have given us many interesting facts not
before known.
In reference 10 Tie size of the sun, the
relative measures would. be making
cnlnplrisnn, ns f.llows: \ room about
twcn,y..iy Zee, in length. height and
br,ad,h. would he required to contain the
representation &C the suns globe, while
The globe representing the earth could he
placed in moderately large goblet, The
sun ouiwciglis fully seven hundred aud
f,riy times the combined mass OF all the
planet which circle around It,
Mercury circles around tho sun in the
brief period Of cighiy.cight days, SO that
if the planet has seasons. these must be
scverally ahou, three weeks long When
he is ncarcs, the sun. he receives ten times
more ligh, aud heat than We do; aud the
sun shows disc liyc times larger 20 that
planet than he presents to us. Pretty
warm climate. TO aay the least OF Il, AMI
no need Of fire 10 cook food His diane
ter is n little more than B 900 miles ; our
earth is nl0n, fifteen times as heavy
Gravity, at its surface. is such iha, u
pound weight of ours would weigh rather
less ,lau seven ounces.
Venus has year Of two hundred aud
twenty four days. seventeen hours, very
nearly. aud her distance from the sun,
Which varies little during her year, i.
somewhat less than ce.iuurths Of that
which separates the sun from Us, Her day
| is about ,hirty.Gv minutes shorter than
ours, and her globe somewhat smaller
than ours
Mars is about |, 900 miles in diameter,
so that his linear Dimensions bear to those
of the earth the proportion of about Gst
to eight The surface Of the earth is about
two aud half times rs extensive as that
of Mars. The substance nf Mar. has nj
average density Of rather less than three
fourihs Of our earth, or very nearly fout
times that Of water Thus gravity Mt his sur
face is much less than ours insomnch that
one of our pound weights, placed at Mars
would weigh but six ounces, three penny
weights. The length Of his year is near.
ly six hundred and eighiy-scvcn Of oul
days, so that each Of his quarters last a
bout Eve and two-,hirds Of our mouths.
Jupiter is the giant of the solar system
and exceeds our earth some ,23O times
in volume, and more than three hundred
times in mass He has diameter OF a
bout s5 900 miles, or nearly ! times a,
large us the carth's, n surface of one hun
drcd and Efteca times larger. Gravity a
his surface il about y times a3 grea
as on our earth, so that such creatures Al
exist around us would find their weigh
much more than double il removed to .Ju
pitcr. lie lies more than five times FAR
ihcr from the sun than our earth, and thu
light and heat which he receives are re
sluccd about one twen,y-6fth Of our sup
ply. He rotates on his axis in about tel
hours. so that his day is considerably les
than half Of ours. His axis is ncarll
perpendicular to his orbit. so that there i
no nppreciable seasonablc changes. Iii
year is 4 ,322J days. lie rejoiccs in fou
moons. and II they were all full at th
same time, they would give to Jupiter on
sixteenth part Of the light VIC receive fron
our moon when full.
Saturn, in volume and mass, Is inferio
to Jupiter, being not quite seven hundre,
time as large as the length Of our earth
Tho length his day is ten and half 0
; our hours. His mean density is spcci6
ealiy lighter than that Of any known plan
q. He occupies about twenty mine and
half Of our years In circling once aroun'
the sun. His distance is nearly twic