8 
THE CULTIVATOR 
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 dis¬ 
play the power and perfections of tl>e Sovereign ot the (Jniverse, 
and the insignificance and nothingness of man in the scale of cre¬ 
ation,. 
Fi-g. i._ General View of the Solar System. 
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 re¬ 
volution, though the day and year in each differ, as we shall pre¬ 
sently see. 
The sun is 880,000 miles ill diameter. It is known to have a 
motion of rotation, like that of a globe or ball turned round a pi¬ 
vot or axis, which is performed in the space of twenty-five days 
and ten hours. The supposition of Herschei, 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 
thirty-seven millions of miles from the sun, and the planet passes 
through it, and completes its year in eighty-eight days. The dia¬ 
meter of mercury is about three thousand two hundred miles. By 
reason of its nearness to the sun, it is seldom seen hy 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 axis in twenty-three hours and twenty minutes, and of 
course, its day and night are forty minutes less than ours. Its di¬ 
ameter is seven thousand 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 
appears 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 0 path around the 
; sun, which is passed through, so as to complete its annual revolu¬ 
tion, in three hundred and sixty-five days, five hours and forty-nine’ 
minutes. The distance of this orbit or circle from the sun is nine¬ 
ty-five millions of miles—its diameter is eight thousand miles.— 
Although the earth’s orbit is apparently circular, yet it is not i» 
reality so—the earth being more than two millions of miles nearer 
the sun in winter than in summer. 
The planet next nearest the sun is Mars $. Its orbit is at the 
distance of one hundred and forty-five millions of miles from the 
sun, it is four thousand two hundred miles in diameter, and it per¬ 
forms its revolution round the sun in one year and ten months.— 
With a good telescope, his surface appears diversified by a variety 
of spots; by the motion 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. 
Betv;een 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. Ce¬ 
res was discovered on th u 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. 
I The circle next to that of Mars, indicated on the map, is the orbit 
of Jupiterlf, 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 minu»es,and therefore those parts 
about its equator, move at the rate of twenty-eight thousand miles 
an hour. It performs its revolution about the sun in one hundred 
and twenty-one of our years. Jupiter is atu nded by four satellites, 
or moons. This planet, if seen from its nearest moon, will pre¬ 
sent 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 f> . It is nine hund¬ 
red millions 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 revolu¬ 
tion, or day and night, is completed in ten hours and sixteen mi¬ 
nutes. 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 day-. This planet, as will be seen, 
is encircled by a double ring, which is ascertained to be thirty 
thousand miles distant from the planet. This double ring consists 
of two concentric rings, that is, one within the other; the inner¬ 
most of which is nearly three times as broad as the outermost; the 
circumference of the latter is six hundred and fort.} thousand miles; 
its breadth seven thousand two hundr'd 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 tin m, 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 another with 
a gibbeous phase ; and sometimes the whole of them shining in the same he¬ 
misphere, 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 contem¬ 
plate. Such magnificent displays of Wisdom and Omnipotence, lead us to 
conclude, that the numerous splendid objects connected with this planet, were 
not created merely to shed Iheir lustre on naked rocks and barren sands ; but 
that an immense population of intelligent beings inhabits those regions, to en¬ 
joy the bounty, and to adore the perfections of their great Creator.” 
The remaining primary planet is Herschei JJi, 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 millions of miles from the sun, the centre of the system. 
