WHAT BEFORE THE MOLTEN GLOBE? 25 
four small satellites and Neptune one. The latter 
satellite revolves about Neptune in five and three- 
quarter days. 
Besides these eight major planets there are numer¬ 
ous other smaller bodies, called asteroids, or, rather 
Fig. 10.—“ Whirlpool ” nebula, which shows rings as if they had 
been detached from the inner central core. 
planetoids, in the solar system, revolving about the 
great luminary in obedience to the law of gravitation. 
How did all these heavenly bodies with their satel¬ 
lites originate ? Laplace claims that all the bodies 
of our solar system were once an immense globe of 
