396 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP, 
marvellous and beautiful of all the heavenly 
bodies. 
While we have one Moon, Mars two, and 
Jupiter four, Saturn has no less than eight 
satellites. 
URANUS 
Saturn was long supposed to be the outer- 
most body belonging to the solar system. 
In 1781, however, on the 13th March, 
William Herschel was examining the stars 
in the constellation of the Twins. One struck 
him because it presented a distinct disc, while 
the true fixed stars, however brilliant, are, 
even with the most powerful telescope, mere 
points of light. At first he thought it might — 
be a comet, but careful observations showed 
that it was really a new planet. Though 
thus discovered by Herschel it had often 
been seen before, but its true nature was 
unsuspected. It has a diameter of about 
31,700 miles. 
Four satellites of Uranus have been dis- 
covered, and they present the remarkable 
peculiarity that while all the other planets 
