We come now to the most charming telescopic object in the heavens—­the planet Saturn.  Inferior only to Jupiter in mass and volume, this planet surpasses him in the magnificence of his system.  Seen in a telescope of adequate power, Saturn is an object of surpassing loveliness.  He must be an unimaginative man who can see Saturn for the first time in such a telescope, without a feeling of awe and amazement.  If there is any object in the heavens—­I except not even the Sun—­calculated to impress one with a sense of the wisdom and omnipotence of the Creator it is this.  “His fashioning hand” is indeed visible throughout space, but in Saturn’s system it is most impressively manifest.

Saturn, to be satisfactorily seen, requires a much more powerful telescope than Jupiter.  A good 2-inch telescope will do much, however, in exhibiting his rings and belts.  I have never seen him satisfactorily myself with such an aperture, but Mr. Grover has not only seen the above-named features, but even a penumbra to the shadow on the rings with a 2-inch telescope.

Saturn revolving round the sun in a long period—­nearly thirty years—­presents slowly varying changes of appearance (see Plate 7).  At one time the edge of his ring is turned nearly towards the earth; seven or eight years later his rings are as much open as they can ever be; then they gradually close up during a corresponding interval; open out again, exhibiting a different face; and finally close up as first seen.  The last epoch of greatest opening occurred in 1856, the next occurs in 1870:  the last epoch of disappearance occurred in 1862-63, the next occurs in 1879.  The successive views obtained are as in Plate 7 in order from right to left, then back to the right-hand figure (but sloped the other way); inverting the page we have this figure thus sloped, and the following changes are now indicated by the other figures in order back to the first (but sloped the other way and still inverted), thus returning to the right-hand figure as seen without inversion.

The division in the ring can be seen in a good 2-inch aperture in favourable weather.  The dark ring requires a good 4-inch and good weather.

Saturn’s satellites do not, like Jupiter’s, form a system of nearly equal bodies.  Titan, the sixth, is probably larger than any of Jupiter’s satellites.  The eighth also (Japetus) is a large body, probably at least equal to Jupiter’s third satellite.  But Rhea, Dione, and Tethys are much less conspicuous, and the other three cannot be seen without more powerful telescopes than those we are here dealing with.