16 THE PLANETS. 



called, from the splendour of its appearance, the 

 morning star, when it is to the^ westward of the 

 sun, and therefore rises before him ; and the evening 

 star, when it is to the eastward of that luminary, 

 and sets after him. 



The Earth, on which we live, is nearly eight 

 thousand miles in diameter. It revolves upon its 

 axis in twenty-four hours, which is our day, and 

 completes its journey round the sun in 365 days, 

 six hours, and some minutes, which constitute our 

 year ; and it travels in that time 550 millions of 

 miles. The moon is the constant attendant of the 

 earth, round which it revolves at the distance of 

 240,000 miles, and is about 2000 miles in diameter. 

 The moon is the nearest to us of all the heavenly 

 bodies; and in size about one sixty -fourth part 

 of the earth. 



Mars is 4,220 miles in diameter, and about 

 one-iifth as large as the earth. It is 145 millions 

 of miles from the sun, and revolves round it in 686 

 days. 



Vesta, Juno, Ceres, and Pallas, are four small 

 planets, discovered in the present century, which 

 revolve between Mars and Jupiter. Juno, the 

 largest of them, is supposed to have a diameter 

 of about 200 miles, while that of Pallas does not 

 exceed seventy. Their distances from the sun 

 vary between 223 and 260 millions of miles. 



Jupiter is nearly 500 millions of miles distant 

 from the sun, around which it revolves in about 

 twelve years. It has a diameter of almost 90,000 



