1927 The Texas Almanac and State Industrial Guide Page: 42
[386] p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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42' THE TEXAS ALMANAC.
ELEMENTS OF THE MAJOR PLANETS.
Distance From Sun (Miles). Distance From Earth
(Miles).
Planet-- C-
Mean. Greatest. Least. Greatest. Least.
Mercury ........ 36,000,000 43,400,000 28,600,000 134,800,000 50,900,0001 87.96
Venus .... .... 67,200,000 67,700,000 66,700,000 161,200,000 24,500,0001 224.70
The Earth....... 92,900,000 94,500,000 91,300,000 ..................1 365.25
Ivars ............ 141,500,000 154,700,000 128,300,000 248,600,000 34,500,0001 686.75
Jupiter .......... 483,300,000 506,600,000 460,000,000 599,500,000 367,2'00,0001 4,332.58
Saturn ....... 886,100,000 935,800,000 836,400,000 1.027,200,000 745,100,000 10,759.21
Uranus ......... 1,782,000,000 1,864,500,000 1,699,600,000 1,956,900,000 1,607,300,000130,686.82
Neptune ........ 12,791,600,00012,817,000,000 2,767,000,00012,909,100,00012,675,000,000160,181.11
ELEMENTS OF THE MAJOR PLANETS-SATELLITES.
Morcury..... 24 5 30 ? 13,00 0.056 0.061 1.173 0.439 7 06 0
Venus ........ 21 21 .. ? 7,700 0.92 0.82 0.89 0.802 12.90 0
Earth ......... 23 56 4 23 27 7,918 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 16.08 1
AMars .......... 24 37 23 24 00 4,230 0.152 0.105 0.711 0.376 6.05 2
Jupiter ........ 9 55 37 3 5 86,500 1,309.000 317.7 0.242 2.65 42.66 7
Saturn ....... 10 14 24 26 49 73,000 760,000 94.8 0.128 1.18 18.99 10
Uanus ....... 7 16 .. ? 32,000 69,237 13.518 0.195 0.754 1212 4
Neptune ....... ? ? 35,000 84.955 16.469 0.300 1.142 18.36 1light, traveling at the rate of 186,000
m les a second, about 3.6 years to span
th distance. Traveling at the rate of
1,000 miles a day, it would take 56,000,000
years to cover the distance. Other fixed
stars which "hover near" our solar system
an I distances in light years are as fol-
lows: 61 Cygni, 7 light years; Sirius, 15;
B Cassiopeia, 17; Vega, 28- J. Draconis,
26; Procyon, 27; Arcturus, 8; Pole Star,
45; 86 Pegasi, 60; Capella, 70. Beyond
these lie the millions of heavenly bodies,
so remote that in most .instances they are
beyond the limit of approximation of dis-
tance.
The Sun.
The sun is the great central body in our
solar system. Its mass is approximately
760 times as great as the combined mass
of the planets. It is the only incandescent
body in the solar system, and it is the
approximate, though not the exact, center
of the orbits of the primary planets. Its
diameter is 864,000 miles as against the
earth's diameter of 7,918 miles and Jupi-
ter's diameter of 86,500 miles.
The Planets.
The planets are the opaque bodies re-
vol ,ing in the solar system. The light
received from the planets is reflected sun-
li; ht. They are generally classified on
three bases: Primary planets are those
that revolve in orbits around the sun;
secondary planets are the satellites re-
volving around the planets. Major planets
are eight in number, ranging in size from
Mercury with a diameter of about 3,000
miles to Jupiter with a diameter of 86,500
miles. The minor planets are 800 or more
in number and revolve around the sun in
a track lying between the orbits of Mars
and Jupiter. They are known as Aster-
oids. The first of these asteroids wasdiscovered in 1800. Continuous discov-
eries have been made since that date.
Ceres, Pallas, Vesta and Juno are the best
identified, having diameters of 488, 304,
248 and 118 miles, respectively. Planets
are also classed as inferior if inside the
orbit of the earth, and superior if outside
the orbit of the earth.
The orbits of the planets on chart are
represented as circular, but the orbits of
the major planets are slightly elliptical,
and the orbits of the minor planets are
decidedly so, some of the asteroids being
twice as far from the sun at aphelion'as
at perihelion. While most of the known
paths of the asteroids lie between the
orbits of Mars and Jupiter, there is one,
Eres, which at perihelion comes far with-
in the orbit of Mars and within about
13,500,000 miles of the orbit of the earth.
The orbits of the planets are not in the
same plane, but there is not a wide diver-
gence. So far as ascertained the axis of
each of the planets is inclined from the
plane of its orbit. This inclination of the
earth (the inclination of earth's equator
to its orbit being-23 degrees 27 minutes)
produces the seasons as the earth re-
volves around the sun.
The Moon.
The moon's diameter is 2,163 miles; it
revolves around the earth in a slightly
elliptical orbit at a mean distance from
the earth of 239,000 miles. The moon re-
volves in its orbit once in 2'7 days 7 hours
43 minutes. In appearance from any
fited place on the earth, however, due to
the ,movement of the earth, it takes the
moon 29 days 12 hours 44, minutes to
complete a revolution through its orbit,
which-is our lunar month. The-moon re-
volves once on its axis for each revolution
around the earth, hence presents only one
side to view from the earth.
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1927 The Texas Almanac and State Industrial Guide, book, 1927~; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth123785/m1/46/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.