IX 



THE SUN 



HOW wonderful the sun ! 

 To the casual observer our two luminaries appear 

 to be of about the same size, but the disparity be- 

 tween their actual sizes is almost incredibly great. In 

 round numbers the sun is 400 times further from us than 

 the moon, consequently their real diameters must bear to 

 each other the same ratio. The volumes of spheres, how- 

 ever, are to each other as the cubes of their diameters; 

 hence the bulk of the larger luminary is some 64,000,000 

 times that of the smaller. Imagine then, the substance of 

 the former to be divided into this number of little moons, 

 strung together like beads upon a strand, how far do you 

 suppose this rope of luminous orbs would reach for deck- 

 ing out our system? For answer, multiply 2160 miles 

 (the lunar diameter) by 64,000,000 and compare the re- 

 sult, 138,000,000,000 miles, with the following dimensions, 

 at the same time allowing liberally for artistic effects : 



Sum of the distances from the sun Miles 



to each of his several planets 6,280,000,000 



Allowance for festooning 2,000,000,000 



Sum of the distances from the various 



planets to each of the others 43,000,000,000 



Allowance for festooning 12,000,000,000 



Sum of all the planetary orbits 40,000,000,000 



For adornment of all the subordinate 



systems after the same manner 1,000,000,000 



Surplus for latticing the asteroids to- 

 gether 33,720,000,000 



Total 138,000,000,000 



