Перевод текста.. it is the brightest object in the night sky and its attraction is the chief cause of the tides. the sun is one of the millions of stars with temperatures so high that they are self - luminous. the sun is a glowing ball 865,000 miles in diameter. but the sun is not the brightest star. many stars are bigger and brighter than the sun. shape of the earth. the earth is of almost spherical shape. there are many ways to prove that the earth is a sphere. here are some. if we watch a distant ship coming into view we see first of all the masts and then the hull. similarly, if the ship is moving away its iower part disappears first. a man standing on the seashore can only see a short distance; if he wants to see farther he must ascend a hill. there are times when the earth gets between the sun and the moon , so that the earth casts a shadow on the moon. this shadow is always circular. now, only a spherical body always throws a circular shadow and so we know that the earth must be spherical.