give a large amount of
interesting information.

Ben Zoof, when he was made aware that the earth would be invisible to
the naked eye from the surface of Saturn, declared that he then, for his
part, did not care to learn any more about such a planet; to him it
was indispensable that the earth should remain in sight, and it was his
great consolation that hitherto his native sphere had never vanished
from his gaze.

At this date Saturn was revolving at a distance of 420,000,000 miles
from Gallia, and consequently 874,440,000 miles from the sun, receiving
only a hundredth part of the light and heat which that luminary bestows
upon the earth. On consulting their books of reference, the colonists
found that Saturn completes his revolution round the sun in a period of
29 years and 167 days, traveling at the rate of more than 21,000 miles
an hour along an orbit measuring 5,490 millions of miles in length. His
circumference is about 220,000 miles; his superficies, 144,000 millions
of square miles; his volume, 143,846 millions of cubic miles. Saturn
is 735 times larger than the earth, consequently he is smaller than
Jupiter; in mass he is only 90 times greater than the earth, which gives
him a density less than that of water. He revolves on his axis in 10
hours 29 minutes, causing his own year to consist of 86,630 days; and
his seasons, on account of the great inclination of his axis to the
plane of his orbit, are each of the length of seven terrestrial years.

Although the light received from the sun is comparatively feeble, the
nights upon Saturn must be splendid. Eight satellites--Mimas, Enceladus,
Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Titan, Hyperion, and Japetus--accompany the planet;
Mimas, the nearest to its primary, rotating on its axis in 221/2 hours,
and revolving at a distance of only 120,800 miles, whilst Japetus,
the most remote, occupies 79 days in its rotation, and revolves at a
distance of 2,314,000 miles.

Another most important contribution to the magnificence of the nights
upon Saturn is the triple ring with which, as a brilliant setting, the
planet is encompassed. To an observer at the equator, this ring, which
has been estimated by Sir William Herschel as scarcely 100 miles in
thickness, must have the appearance of a narrow band of light passing
through the zenith 12,000 miles above his head. As the observer,
however, increases his latitude either north or south, the band will
gradually widen out into three detached and c