HOW THE EARTH APPEARS FROM THE OTHER PLANETS. 669 



dertaking, yet it is astonishing how soon we may become habituated to such 

 work, and lose the impatient feeling at first experienced, I remember that, 

 ' about eighteen months ago, when I began systematically to observe shoot- 

 stai'S, a watch of two hours required something of an effort to sustain it, 

 whereas, now I continue at work for 5, 7 or ten hours at a time and it is 

 always a pleasant occupation. On a night when meteors are numerous, there 

 is quite an enjoyable excitement, and it is suprising that so few astronomers 

 engage in this special work. Yerily, herein the harvest is great and the 

 laborers are few. Though much has already been gathered, we stand as yet 

 only on the outskirts of the rich field of discovery, and I would earnestly 

 invite the members of your society to take some share in the work. Mr. 

 Sawyer, your Secretary, who is himself getting together many xiseful facts 

 in this department will, I know, be happy to lend a helping hand and give 

 such directions as will ensure valuable and honorable results. — Science 

 Observer. . 



Bristol, England, Nov. 15, 1867. 



HOW THE EARTH APPEARS FROM THE OTHER PLANETS. 



" How many eyes are watching us?" is an instinctive thought as one 

 stejDS out under the glittering dome at night. 



It is rather humiliating to learn from astronomers that we are visible 

 only to the Moon, Mercury, Mars and Yenus, out of all those myriad lights. 



At certain favorable times Jupiter might see us with the aid of a tele- 

 scope, but it would be only as a small black spot slowly crossing the sun's 

 face. 



We are invisible to Saturn. Even if, by the aid of powerful telescopes 

 they could see us, they could not decide whether we were a distinct or sep- 

 erate ball or attached to the sun. 



An imaginary view from Saturn is supposed to depict the scene at mid- 

 night, at thirty degrees latitude. The sun has illuminated the beautiful 

 rings, casting a brighter glow over the faint yellowish tint of the orb. The 

 equatorial belt of a creamy white color, the cinnamon-colored belts on 

 either side, and the faint blue of the polar regions, shine more vividly in 

 the reflected light. The satellites sparkling in the distance heighten the 

 grandeur of the scene. • 



We receive but very faint light from Saturn, as we are 746 times smaller 

 than that planet, and its mean distance from us, according to Proctor, is 

 over 91,000,000 miles. 



Uranus can never see us at all, as it is 1,753,000,000 miles from the sun. 



J^eptune, the most remote of the planets in the solar system, is 

 about, 2,700,000,000 miles from the sun. As we only discovered it about 

 thirty years ago, it need not disturb us to think that the l^eptuneites will 

 never know of our existence. 



