File:Dante and the early astronomers (1913) (14597105207).jpg

Identifier: danteearlyastron00ever (find matches)
Title: Dante and the early astronomers
Year: 1913 (1910s)
Authors: Evershed, M. A. (Orr)
Subjects: Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321 Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321 Astronomy
Publisher: London : Gall & Inglis
Contributing Library: PIMS - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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ighbours,Mercury, Venus, and Mars; just as Jupiter is largestamong the giant planets—Saturn and the more recentlydiscovered Uranus and Neptune. In the gap betweenthese two groups modern astronomers have discoveredhundreds of tiny planets, to which Earth is a monster,for many are only a few miles in diameter. Themeteorites which shoot across our view, startlingquiet eyes, we still regard as a kind of conflagrationin our upper atmosphere, but instead of vapours risingfrom Earths surface we recognise them as visitantsfrom inter-planetary space, caught by Earths greatmass as they pass too near, and flaming up with theheat caused by their sudden rush through the air.They exist in shoals of thousands and millions, somesmall as pebbles, some like great rocks, but all belong-ing to our system and pursuing definite paths likeplanets. The same must be said of comets, which havejust as little to do with a hypothetical fire-sphereround Earth, but travel in regular periods, some long, -VjAE SQ/y
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^HE SVJt^ Fig. 53. Comparative sizes of the Sun and his satellites. P- ^90 i VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE 491 some short; several small ones are seen every year,and occasionally a great splendour like Halleys drawsnear to us in its orbit, yet even these seem to consistof very small quantities of matter. Other members ofour celestial family are the moons of Mars, Jupiter, andthe rest, of which more are still being discovered. TheEarth-Moon system is, however, unique in that oursatellite is much nearer our own size than the pro-portionately tiny companions of other planets andthe pair must look like a beautiful double movingthrough the stars and continually revolving round oneanother. All these bodies are made, not of a mysterious ether,but of something just as wonderful, beautiful, and in-comprehensible—the same stuff as Earth. Most pro-bably all developed in long-past ages out of a nebula,or mass of gas which for some unknown reason wasintensely hot. Small bodies, like the Moon and Mars,co

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