Like the Earth, Saturn is believed to have a more or less solid core, but hotter and with layers of gas around him. It is the sixth planet from the Sun, and with his beautiful rings, which are formed of millions of little pieces—each a moon in itself—and with his ten large moons, when seen through a telescope he is far and away the mightiest sight in the whole sky at night. He and his wonderful rings are shown in [Fig. 57].
Saturn is 886 millions of miles from the Sun.
- His diameter is 73,000 miles.
- His day is 10 of our hours long.
- His year is 29 of our years long.
Seeing Uranus.—If you have sharp eyes and will look for Uranus in the spring and summer months, you should be able to see him. He has a pale green color, and on a clear moonless night is visible to a good eye.
Fig. 58.—Uranus.
Fig. 59.—Neptune.
Uranus is the planet star from the Sun and before Herschel discovered him with his homemade telescope astronomers frequently mistook him for a fixed star. As seen through a large telescope Uranus shows some indistinct markings.
Uranus is 1,780 millions of miles from the Sun.