Page:Gods Glory in the Heavens.djvu/23

readily drags us out of our course. Here we may discover objects that have escaped the keen eye of astronomers. No astronomer has ever detected more than one satellite; but we may well suppose that this arises, not from their non-existence, but from their invisibility at such a distance. As planets recede from the sun, distance from the centre of light is compensated for, in some measure, by the number of satellites. If the day wants brilliancy, the loss is made up by the magnificence of the moonlight scenery. There are probably crowds of moons studding the Neptunian skies, and giving cheering light when the tiny sun has set—the sun being only a thousandth part as large as it appears from our globe. It is not improbable that Neptune has rings like Saturn. Some astronomers have pretty confidently asserted that they have sometimes got glimpses of a ring. The rings may be invisible, not merely from distance, but from the dimness of the matter of which they are composed. The dark ring of Saturn would not be seen by the best telescope at the distance of Neptune. When we alight on the surface of Neptune, we find a little more difficulty in locomotion. A man who weighs twelve stones on the earth, would here weigh sixteen stones; and having this additional weight, with the same muscular strength, difficulty of movement would necessarily be the result. This does not arise from the density of the planet, but from its superior mass. So far