396 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE chap. 



marvellous and beautiful of all tlie heavenly 

 bodies. 



While we have one Moon, Mars two, and 

 Jupiter four, Saturn- has no less than eight 

 satellites. 



tJRANUS 



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 



