Solar System* 43 



is 266,000,000 miles, and its diameter 

 80 miles. 



This planet and the last Dr. Herschel 

 proposes to call asteroids, because they 

 are so much smaller than any of the oth- 

 er planets. 



Jupiter is the seventh planet in the or- 

 der of our system, and the largest that 

 has yet been discovered, being nearly a 

 thousand times as large as our earth. 

 He is computed to be about 490,000,000 

 miles from the sun, to go at the rate of 

 29,000 miles an hour, and to be 89,000 

 miles in diameter. He finishes his annu- 

 al period in eleven of our years 314 days 

 and 12 hours, and turns round his axis 

 in 9 hours 56 minutes ; so that his year 

 contains 10,470 days* From this plan- 

 et's turning so swiftly on its axis, its fi- 

 gure is more oblate than that of the earth, 

 being more than six thousand miles long- 

 er in its equatorial than in its polar di- 

 ameter ; this swiftness of its diurnal mo- 

 tion also draws its clouds and vapours 

 into streaks or lines over its equatorial 

 parts, forming what is called Jupiter's 

 belts. 



Saturn is the eighth planet from the 



