Part 27

If the distance from the earth to the sun is taken as one inch so that the scale of the universe is reduced six trillion times, the diameter of the solar system across Neptune's orbit is five feet and the distance of one light-year comes out almost exactly equal to one mile. The nearest star to the five-foot solar system would be four and a third miles away; the most distant known object would be two hundred and twenty thousand miles away, and the extent of the visible universe would be three hundred thousand miles. On the same scale the diameter of our sun would be about one hundredth of an inch and the diameters of the giant stars Antares and Betelgeuze would be four inches and two and three-fourth inches respectively. To see the earth we would need a microscope.

TABLES

TABLE I

THE PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

=============+=============+========+============+========+============+=========== |Mean Distance from Sun| |Velocity| | +-------------+--------+ | in | |Inclination | |Relative| Period | Orbit |Eccentricity| of Planet | In Miles | to | of |(Miles | of | Orbit to | |Earth's | Revolution | per | Orbit | Ecliptic | |Distance| |Second )| | ------------+-------------+--------+------------+--------+------------+----------- Mercury | 36,000,000| 0.39 | 87.97 days |23 to 35| .2056 | 7° 0' Venus | 67,200,000| 0.72 |224.70 days | 21.9 | .0068 | 3 23 Earth | 92,900,000| 1.00 |365.25 days | 18.5 | .0167 | 0 0 Mars | 141,500,000| 1.52 | 1.88 years| 15.0 | .0933 | 1 51 Asteroids| ...........|2.0-5.2 | ......... | ...... | .00 to .40 | 0° to 35° Jupiter | 483,300,000| 5.20 | 11.86 years| 8.1 | .0484 | 1 18 Saturn | 886,000,000| 9.54 | 29.46 years| 6.0 | .0558 | 2 29 Uranus |1,781,900,000| 19.19 | 84.02 years| 4.2 | .0471 | 0 46 Neptune |2,971,600,000| 30.07 |164.79 years| 3.4 | .0085 | 1 47 ============+=============+========+============+========+============+===========

FOOTNOTE:

About 940 have been discovered up to the present time.

THE PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM (Continued)

=========+========+==========+==========+========+============+==========+==========+============+=========== | Mean | | |Density | Surface |Velocity |Reflecting| Period |Inclination Name |Diameter| Mass | Volume |Relative| Gravity |of Escape | Power | of | of | in +----------+----------+to that | (Relative |(Miles per| in | Axial | Equator | Miles | Relative to Earth's |of Water| to Earth's)| Second) | Per Cent | Rotation | to Orbit ---------+--------+----------+----------+--------+------------+----------+----------+------------+----------- Sun | 864,392| 329,390 | 1,300,000| 1.40 | 27.64 | 383 | ..... |25 d. 8 h.| 7° 15' Moon | 2,160| .012 | .02 | 3.34 | 0.16 | 1.5 | 7 |27 d. 7.7 h.| 6 41 Mercury | 3,009| .045 | .06 | 4.48? | 0.31? | 2.2 | 7 |88 d. ? | ? Venus | 7,575| .807 | .92 | 4.85? | 0.85 | 6.6 | 59 | ? | ? Earth | 7,918| 1.000 | 1.00 | 5.53 | 1.00 | 7 | 44 |23 h. 56 m. | 23 27 Mars | 4,216| .106 | .15 | 3.58 | 0.35 | 1.5 | 15 |24 37 | 23 59 Asteroids|5-485|very small|very small| 3.3 |.0008 to .04|.33 to .01| 7 | ..... | ..... Jupiter | 88,392| 314.50 | 1309 | 1.25 | 2.52 | 37 | 56 | 9 55± | 3° Saturn | 74,163| 94.07 | 760 | 0.63 | 1.07 | 22 | 63 |10 14± | 27° Uranus | 30,878| 14.40 | 65 | 1.44 | 0.99 | 13 | 63 |10 45± | ? Neptune | 32,932| 16.72 | 85 | 1.09 | 0.87 | 14 | 73 | ? | ? =========+========+==========+==========+========+============+==========+==========+============+===========

FOOTNOTE:

Extreme values.

TABLE II

THE SATELLITES OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

=============+=========+=============+========+=====================+============+========= | | | | | | | |Mean Distance| | | | |Apparent |from Planet's|Diameter| Period of | | Year of Name |Magnitude| Center, |in miles| Revolution | Discoverer |Discovery | | in miles | | | | -------------+---------+-------------+--------+---------------------+------------+--------- | | | | | | THE EARTH | | | | | | Moon | | 238,857 | 2160 | 27 days, 7 hours, | | | | | | 43 minutes | | MARS | | | | | | 1. Phobos | 14 | 5,850 | 10? | 0 days, 7 hours, | Asaph Hall | 1877 | | | | 39 minutes | | 2. Deimos | 13 | 14,650 | 10? | 1 day, 6 hours, | Asaph Hall | 1877 | | | | 17 minutes | | JUPITER | | | | | | v. | 13 | 112,500 | 100? | 0 day, 11 hours, | Barnard | 1892 | | | | 57 minutes | | i. | 6.5 | 261,000 | 2452 | 1 day, 18 hours, | Galileo | 1610 | | | | 28 minutes | | ii. | 6.5 | 415,000 | 2045 | 3 days, 13 hours, | Galileo | 1610 | | | | 14 minutes | | iii. | 6 | 664,000 | 3558 | 7 days, 3 hours, | Galileo | 1610 | | | | 43 minutes | | iv. | 7 | 1,167,000 | 3345 | 16 days, 16 hours, | Galileo | 1610 | | | | 32 minutes | | vi. | 14 | 7,372,000 | small | 266 days, 0 hours, | Perrine | 1904 | | | | 0 minutes | | vii. | 16 | 7,567,900 |very | 276 days, 16 hours, | Perrine | 1905 | | | small | 5 minutes | | viii. | 17 | 15,600,000 |very | 789 days, 0 hours, | Melotte | 1908 | | | small | 0 minutes | | ix. | 19 | 18,900,000 | 20? | 3 years | Nicholson | 1914 | | | | | | SATURN | | | | | | 1. Meimas | 15 | 117,000 | 600 | 0 days, 22 hours, | Herschel | 1789 | | | | 37 minutes | | 2. Enceladus | 14 | 157,000 | 800 | 1 day, 8 hours, | Herschel | 1789 | | | | 53 minutes | | 3. Tethys | 11 | 186,000 | 1200 | 1 day, 21 hours, | Cassini | 1684 | | | | 18 minutes | | 4. Dione | 11 | 238,000 | 1100 | 2 days, 17 hours, | Cassini | 1684 | | | | 41 minutes | | 5. Rhea | 10 | 332,000 | 1500 | 4 days, 12 hours, | Cassini | 1672 | | | | 25 minutes | | 6. Titan | 9 | 771,000 | 3000 | 15 days, 22 hours, | Huygens | 1655 | | | | 41 minutes | | 7. Hyperion | 16 | 934,000 | 500 | 21 days, 6 hours, | Bond | 1848 | | | | 39 minutes | | 8. Japetus | 11 | 2,225,000 | 2000 | 79 days, 7 hours, | Cassini | 1671 | | | | 54 minutes | | 9. Phoebe | 17 | 8,000,000 | 200? | 546 days, 12 hours, | W.H. | 1898 | | | | 0 minutes | Pickering | 10. Themis | 17 | 906,000 | ? | 20 days, 20 hours, | W.H. | 1905 | | | | 24 minutes | Pickering | URANUS | | | | | | 1. Ariel | 15 | 120,000 | 500 | 2 days, 12 hours, | Lassell | 1851 | | | | 29 minutes | | 2. Umbriel | 16 | 167,000 | 400 | 4 days, 3 hours, | Lassell | 1851 | | | | 28 minutes | | 3. Titania | 13 | 273,000 | 1000 | 8 days, 16 hours, | Herschel | 1787 | | | | 56 minutes | | 4. Oberon | 14 | 365,000 | 800 | 13 days, 11 hours, | Herschel | 1787 | | | | 7 minutes | | NEPTUNE | | | | | | 1. Nameless | 13 | 221,500 | 2000 | 5 days, 21 hours, | Lassell | 1846 | | | | 3 minutes | | =============+=========+=============+========+=====================+============+=========

RINGS OF SATURN

===================+==========+===================+===================+==================== | | Distance of | Distance of |Diameter of Ring | | Inner Edge from | Outer Edge from | System from outer Name | Width, | Surface of Saturn,| Surface of Saturn,| edge to outer edge, | in miles | in miles | in miles | 172,500 miles. -------------------+----------+-------------------+-------------------|Thickness of Ring | | | | System, about one Dark or Crape Ring | 10,900 | 5,900 | 16,800 | hundred miles. Bright Ring | 18,000 | 16,800 | 34,800 |Size of Individual Cassini's Division | 2,200 | 34,800 | 37,000 | Moonlets, probably Outer Ring | 11,000 | 37,000 | 48,000 | less than three | | | | miles in diameter. ===================+==========+===================+===================+====================

TABLE III

THE TWENTY BRIGHTEST STARS IN THE HEAVENS

=============================+==========+============+============+===========+=========== | | | | Passes | | | | On | through | Distance Name |Magnitude | Color | Meridian |the Zenith | in | | | 9 P. M. |in Latitude|Light-Years -----------------------------+----------+------------+------------+-----------+----------- Sirius, Alpha Canis Majoris | -1.6 |White |February 12| 17 S. | 8.8 Canopus, Alpha Argus | -0.9 |White |February 8| 53 S. | ? Alpha Centauri | 0.1 |Yellow |June 15| 61 S. | 4.3 Vega, Alpha Lyræ | 0.1 |White |August 15| 39 N. | 40 Capella, Alpha Aurigæ | 0.2 |Yellow |January 20| 46 N. | 38 Arcturus, Alpha Boötis | 0.2 |Orange |June 10| 20 N. | 21 Rigel, Beta Orionis | 0.8 |Bluish-White|January 20| 8 S. | ? Procyon, Alpha Canis Minoris | 0.5 |White |February 26| 5 N. | 12 Achernar, Alpha Eridani | 0.6 |Bluish-White|December 2| 58 S. | 80 Beta Centauri | 0.9 |Bluish-White|June 7| 60 S. | 100 Betelgeuze, Alpha Orionis | Var. |Red |January 31| 7 N. | 150-270? | 1.0-1.4 | | | | Altair, Alpha Aquilæ | 0.9 |White |September 4| 9 N. | 16 Alpha Crucis (Double Star)| 1.6-2.1 |Bluish-White|May 14| 63 S. | 220 Aldebaran, Alpha Tauri | 1.1 |Red |January 11| 16 N. | 27 Pollux, Beta Geminorum | 1.2 |Yellow |February 28| 28 N. | 35 Spica, Alpha Virginis | 1.2 |Bluish-White|May 29| 11 S. | ? Antares, Alpha Scorpii | 1.2 |Red |July 12| 26 S. | 850 Fomalhaut, Alpha Piscis | 1.3 |White |October 24| 30 S. | 25 Australis | | | | | Deneb, Alpha Cygni | 1.3 |White |September 19| 45 N. | ? Regulus, Alpha Leonis | 1.3 |White |April 8| 12 N. | 32 =============================+==========+============+============+===========+===========

FOOTNOTE:

Invisible north of 35° N. Lat. (approximate).

TABLE IV

A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL CONSTELLATIONS

1. VISIBLE IN 40° NORTH LATITUDE

=============================================================== | | | Passes Name | Chief Star | On Meridian | Overhead | or | 9 P. M. | in Latitude | Noted Object | | (Degrees) -----------------+---------------+-------------+--------------- Andromeda | Great Nebula | November | 35 N. Aquarius | | October | 5 S. Aquila | Altair | September | 0° Aries | | December | 20 N. Auriga | Capella | February | 40 N. Boötes | Arcturus | June | 30 N. Cancer | Praesepe | March | 20 N. Canes Venatici | Cor Caroli | June | 40 N. Canis Major | Sirius | March | 20 S. Canis Minor | Procyon | March | 10 N. Capricornus | | October | 15 S. Cassiopeia | | November | 60 N. Cepheus | | November | 70 N. Cetus | Mira | December | 5 S. Columba | | February | 35 S. Coma Berenices | | May | 25 N. Corona Borealis | Alphecca | July | 30 N. Corvus | | May | 20 S. Crater | | May | 15 S. Cygnus. | Deneb | September | 40 N. Delphinus | Most distant | September | 15 N. | globular | | | cluster | | Draco | Alpha | August | 65 N. Eridanus | Achernar | January | 10° N. to 60° S. Gemini | Pollux | March | 25 N. Hercules | Great Cluster | July | 30 N. Hydra | | April | 20 S. Leo | Regulus | April | 15 N. Lepus | | February | 20 S. Libra | | June | 15 S. Lynx | | April | 45 N. Lyra | Vega | August | 40 N. Ophiuchus | | July | 10 S. Orion | Great Nebula | February | 0° Piscis Australis | Fomalhaut | October | 30 S. Pegasus | | November | 20 N. Perseus | Algol | January | 50 N. Pisces | | December | 5 N. Sagitta | | September | 20 N. Sagittarius | | August | 30 S. Scorpio | Antares | July | 30 S. Serpens | | July |20° N. to 15° S. Taurus | Pleiades | January | 20 N. Triangulum | | December | 35 N. Ursa Major | Mizar | May | 65 N. Ursa Minor | Polaris | | 85 N. Virgo | Spica | June | 0° =================+===============+=============+===============

FOOTNOTE:

The approximate position of the center of the constellation.

2. INVISIBLE IN 40° NORTH LATITUDE