A compendium of astronomy: being a concise description of the most interesting phenomena of the heavens (1849)

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12 Mercury, the first planet in the system, is 3140 miles in diameter, and 37 millions of miles distant from the Sun. His revolution round the Sun is performed in about 88 days, and his velocity is about 109,000 miles per hour. He can never he seen except at a small distance from the Sun (never more than 28°); and as in the day time he is overpowered by its light, he is only visible a short time before sunrise and after sunset. His appearance is that of a small star, emitting a bright white light. It is calculated that he receives from the Sun about 7 times as much light and heat as we do. Menus is the most beautiful of all the planets. She is a bright star of a greyish colour ; but never appears more than 48° distant from the Sun, so that she is never seen more than 3§ hours before or after him. When she is west of the Sun she rises before him, and is a morning star; and when east of him, an evening star, as she is then seen after he sets. When viewed with a telescope, she presents, in common with Mercury, the same appearances as the Moon ; being crescent- shaped, gibbous, or round, according to her situation. These appearances are shown in DIAGRAM YI. Venus is distant from the Sun about 68 million miles ; her time of revolution around him is about 225 days, and she moves at the rate of 80,000 miles an hour. Her diameter is 7800 miles, rather less than that of the Earth; and she is believed to revolve on her axis in about 2 3| hours. When either Venus or Mercury passes between the Earth and the Sun, the enlightened side is turned from us, and the planet is seen as a black spot passing across the Sun’s disk. This, however, happens very seldom, owing to the inclination of their orbits to the Ecliptic, as already explained. The Earth is the next planet in the system. Its