X THE STARRY HEAVENS 397 



and their satellites revolve nearly in one 

 plane, the satellites of Uranus are nearly at 

 right angles, indicating the presence of some 

 local and exceptional influence. 



NEPTUNE 



The study of Uranus soon showed that it 

 followed a path which could not be accounted 

 for by the influence of the Sun and the other 

 then known planets. It was suspected, there- 

 fore, that .this was due to some other body 

 not yet discovered. To calculate where 

 such a body must be so as to account for 

 these irregularities was a most complex and 

 difficult, and might have seemed almost a 

 hopeless, task. It was, however, solved al- 

 most simultaneously and independently by 

 Adams in this country, and Le Verrier in 

 France. 



Neptune, so far as we yet know the out- 

 most of our companions, is 35,000 miles in 

 diameter, and its mean distance from the Sun 

 is 2,780,000,000 miles. 



