f the sun
himself.

But the sun and the moon having been partly described (we shall
afterwards have to refer to them again), some hesitation is natural in
the choice of the next step. The two great luminaries being abstracted
from our view, there remains no other celestial body of such exceptional
interest and significance as to make it quite clear what course to
pursue; we desire to unfold the story of the heavens in the most natural
manner. If we made the attempt to describe the celestial bodies in the
order of their actual magnitude, our ignorance must at once pronounce
the task to be impossible. We cannot even make a conjecture as to which
body in the heavens is to stand first on the list. Even if that
mightiest body be within reach of our telescopes (in itself a highly
improbable supposition), we have not the least idea in what part of the
heavens it is to be sought. And even if this were possible--if we were
able to arrange all the visible bodies rank by rank in the order of
their magnitude and their splendour--still the scheme would be
impracticable, for of most of them we know little or nothing.

We are therefore compelled to adopt a different method of procedure, and
the simplest, as well as the most natural, will be to follow as far as
possible the order of distance of the different bodies. We have already
spoken of the moon as the nearest neighbour to the earth; we shall next
consider some of the other celestial bodies which are comparatively near
to us; then, as the subject unfolds, we shall discuss the objects
further and further away, until towards the close of the volume we shall
be engaged in considering the most distant bodies in the universe which
the telescope has yet revealed to us.

Even when we have decided on this principle, our course is still not
free from ambiguity. Many of the bodies in the heavens are in motion, so
that their relative distances from the earth are in continual change;
this is, however, a difficulty which need not detain us. We shall make
no attempt to adhere closely to the principle in all details. It will be
sufficient if we first describe those great bodies--not a very numerous
class--which are, comparatively speaking, in our vicinity, though still
at varied distances; and then we shall pass on to the uncounted bodies
which are separated from us by distances so vast that the imagination is
baffled in the attempt to realise them.

Let us, then, scan the heavens to discove