THE CULTIVATOR. 
9 
at New-York at $20. Messrs. Hallocks have on hand two, for which 
they have refused $40 each. They weigh two hundred pounds each. 
CHAPTER OF FACTS.—ASTRONOMY, 
We have, at considerable expense, procured the accompanying cut, 
in order to explain to our young readers, the magnitude and plan of the 
solar system. Nothing can be more worthy the study and admiration 
of man, than the works of his Creator. They display the power and 
perfections of the Sovereign of the Universe, and the insignificance and 
nothingness of man in the scale of creation. 
Fig. 1.— General View of the Solar System. 
The large figure before us, exhibits the solar system, with the sun, 
the fountain of light and heat to the whole system, indicated by the dot 
in the centre. The seven circles around this centre show the orbits of 
the seven principal planets, and their relative distances from the sun. 
The sun itself is an immense globe, thirteen hundred thousand times 
larger than the earth which we inhabit. The planets all revolve in 
their several circles, and are also known to revolve on their own axis, 
giving to each a daily, and an annual revolution, though the day and 
year in each differ, as we shall presently see. 
The Sun is 880,000 miles in diameter. It is known to have a motion 
of rotation, like that of the globe or ball turned round a pivot or axis, 
which is performed in the space of twenty-five days and ten hours. 
The supposition of Herschel, one of our greatest astronomers, is, that 
the sun is peopled with inhabitants. 
The small inner circle is the orbit of Mercury £ . This circle is thir¬ 
ty-seven millions of miles from the sun, and the planet passes through 
it, and completes its year in eighty-eight days. The diameter of Mer¬ 
cury is about three thousand two hundred miles. By reason of its near¬ 
ness to the sun, it is seldom seen by the naked eye. 
The next circle to Mercury’s, is the orbit of Venus ? , which is sixty- 
eight millions of miles from the sun, and performs its journey around 
the sun in two hundred and twenty-four days. It revolves upon its ax¬ 
is in twenty-three hours and twenty minutes, and of course, its day and 
night are forty minutes less than ours. Its diameter is seven thou¬ 
sand seven hundred miles. This planet is the evening and the morning 
star. M. Shroeter affirms, that he has discovered in this planet, with 
his telescope, mountains ten, twelve and twenty-two miles high. About 
twice in a century, this planet appear to pass, like a dark spot, across 
the sun’s disc, or surface. This is termed the transit of Venus. The 
last happened June 3, 1789; the next will happen December 8, 1874. 
The third circle from the centre is the Earth’s @ path around the sun, 
which is passed through, so as to complete its annual revolution, in 
three hundred and sixty-five days, five hours and forty-nine minutes. 
The distance of this orbit or circle from the sun is ninety-five millions 
of miles—the diameter of the earth is eight thousand miles. Although 
the earth’s orbit is apparently circular, yet it is not in reality so—the 
earth being more than two millions of miles nearer the sun in winter 
than in summer. 
VOL. III. 
The planet next nearest the sun is Mars $. Its orbit is at the dis¬ 
tance of one hundred and forty-five millions of miles from the sun, it is 
four thousand two hundred miles in diameter, and it performs its revo¬ 
lution round the sun in one year and ten months. With a good teles¬ 
cope, his surface appears diversified by a variety of spots; by the mo¬ 
tion of which it is found, that he turns round his axis, or completes his 
day and night, in twenty four hours, and forty minutes. At his nearest 
approach to the earth, his distance is fifty millions of miles; and, at his 
greatest distance, he is two hundred and forty millions of miles. 
Between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, four small planets have been 
discovered within a few years, and are called Ceres, Pallas, Juno and 
Vesta. Their orbits are not shown upon the map. Ceres was disco¬ 
vered on the first day of the present century, by M. Piazzi of Palermo. 
Pallas was discovered the following year, by Dr. Olbers, of Bremen. 
Juno, by M. Harding, of Bremen, in 1804, and Vesta, by Dr. Olbers, in 
1807. These planets are about the size of our moon, and make their 
revolutions about the sun in about four to five years. 
The circle next to that of Mars, indicated on the map, is the orbit of 
Jupiter If., the largest planet in the system: being eighty-nine thousand 
miles in diameter, and fourteen hundred times larger than our earth. 
It revolves upon its axis, i. e. completes its day and night, in nine hours 
and fifty-six minutes, and therefore those parts about the equator move at 
the rate of twenty-eight thousand miles an hour. It performs its revo¬ 
lution about the sun in one hundred and twenty-one of our years. Ju¬ 
piter is attended by four satellites, or moons. This planet if seen from 
its nearest moon, will present a surface a thousand times as large as 
our moon appears to us. Jupiter is four hundred and ninety millions 
of miles from the sun. 
The outer circle but one is that of Saturn . It is nine hundred mil¬ 
lions of miles from the sun, and the planet is seventy-nine thousand 
miles in diameter. It takes twenty-nine and a half years to complete 
its revolution round the sun, yet its diurnal revolution, or day and night, 
is completed in ten hours and sixteen minutes. The year of Saturn, 
therefore, contains about twenty-five thousand one hundred and fifty 
days, equal to ten thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine of our days. 
This planet, as will be seen, is encircled by a double ring, which is as¬ 
certained to be thirty thousand miles distant from the planet. This 
double ring consists of two concentric rings, that is, one within the 
other; the innermost of which is nearly three times as broad as the 
outermost; the circumference of the latter is six hundred and forty 
thousand miles; its breadth seven thousand two hundred miles; the 
breadth of the inner ring is one hundred and eighty-four thousand miles. 
The dark space, or interval between the two rings, is two thousand 
eight hundred miles. The breadth of both rings, including the dark 
space between them, is thirty thousand miles. Saturn has seven moons. 
Mr. Dick, after describing the phenomena of this planet, indulges in 
the following reflections : 
“ There is no other planet in the solar system, whose firmament will present 
such a variety of splendid and magnificent objects, as that of Saturn. The va¬ 
rious aspects of his seven moons, one rising above the horizon, while another 
is setting, and a third approaching to the meridian ; one entering into an 
eclipse, and another emerging from it; one appearing as a crescent, and an¬ 
other with a gibbeous phase ; and sometimes the whole of them shining in the 
same hemisphere, in one bright assemblage ;—the majestic motions of the rings 
—at one time illuminating the sky with their splendor, and eclipsing the stars ; 
at another casting a deep shadow over certain regions of the planet, and unveil¬ 
ing to view, the wonders of the starry firmament—are scenes worthy of the 
majesty of the Divine Being to unfold, and of rational creatures to contemplate. 
Such magnificent displays of Wisdom and Omnipotence, lead us to conclude, 
that the numerous splendid objects connected with this planet, were not cre¬ 
ated merely to shed their lusture on naked rocks and barren sands ; but that 
an immense population of intelligent beings inhabits those regions, to enjoy 
the bounty, and to adore the perfections of their great Creator.” 
The remaining primary planet is Herschel ift, discovered in 1781, by 
the astronomer whose name it bears. This planet moves in the outer 
circle described in the map, which is one thousand eight hundred mil¬ 
lions- of miles from the sun, the centre of the system. The diameter of 
Herschel is thirty-five thousand miles, or about eighty times larger 
than the earth. It takes eighty and a half years to complete its revolu¬ 
tion round the sun. It has six moons. 
The planets which we have described, are termed primary planets. 
There are besides, belonging to our planetary system, eighteen secon- 
pary planets, or moons; one revolving round the earth, four round 
Jupiter, seven round Saturn, and six round Herschel. Qur moon is 
the nearest planet to our earth. She is two thousand one hundred and 
eighty miles in diameter, and about two hundred and forty thousand 
miles from the earth, making her revolution in twenty-nine days and 
twelve hours. Her surface, when viewed with a telescope, appears to 
be diversified with mountains, valleys, rocks and plains, in every va¬ 
riety of form and position. Some of the mountains are ascertained to 
be five miles high, and some of the plains one hundred miles in diame¬ 
ter. That this planet, as well as the others belonging to our system, 
are inhabited by intelligent beings, there is every reason to believe, 
from the general beneficence of the Creator, who appears to have left 
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