Fig. 527.—The Moon.
Mercury is the smallest of the planets, Venus being nearly as large as the earth. Then comes Mars, which, though smaller than Venus, is larger than Mercury. Jupiter is the largest of all—the giant amongst planets, as Jove was the ruler of the gods of mythology. Saturn comes next, though much smaller than Jupiter, but bigger than all the rest together. Next Uranus, then Neptune, larger than Uranus, but farther away from us. We shall speak more in detail about these in their order separately.
Fig. 528.—Comparative size of the sun seen from the planets.
Fig. 529.—Sizes of the planets.
Taking the earth as 1, the comparative VOLUMES of the planets are as follows:—
Mercury 1/25, Venus 4/5, Mars 1/5, Jupiter 1300, Saturn 900, Uranus 80, Neptune 230. Sir John Herschel gives the following illustration of magnitudes and distances:—
