ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 



NEW PLANETS DISCOVERED IN 1850. 



M. DE GASPARIS, the discoverer of Hygea,* discovered at Naples, 

 on May 11, a new telescopic planet, making the eleventh asteroid, to 

 which he has given the name Parthenope. It is a star of the ninth 

 magnitude, and at the time of its discovery was very nearly in opposi- 

 tion. Dr. Galle first detected it in Germany, and since the first an- 

 nouncement, very numerous observations have been made both in Eu- 

 rope and America, but especially at Washington. It occupies no 

 extreme place in any one of its elements. The mean motion is be- 

 tween that of Astreea and that of Hebe. The emblem for Parthenope 

 is a star and fish. 



Mr. W. C. Bond, in a letter to the Boston Traveller, states that 

 Mr. Hind, Secretary of the Royal Astronomical Society in London, 

 discovered a new planet on the 13th of September. Mr. Hartnup, of 

 Liverpool, detected it on the 17th, and it was observed at Altona, by 

 Petersen, on the 25th and 30th, at Berlin on the 21st, and at other 

 places in Europe and in this country at various times since. Mr. 

 Hind, in a letter of Oct. 2d, thinks " the period of revolution of the 

 new planet will be nearly the same as that of Iris, perhaps a little 

 longer." But Dr. B. A. Gould, Jr., from a calculation from some 

 of the earlier observations, comes to the conclusion that, if the ele- 

 ments obtained are worthy of reliance, the period of the new planet 

 ki is shorter than that of any other asteroid, with the single exception 

 of Flora." This forms the twelfth of the group of ultra-zodiacal 

 planets. Mr. Hind proposes Victoria as its name, and a star sur- 

 mounted by a laurel branch as its symbol. This name has been 

 adopted by the Astronomers Royal of England, Prussia, and Den- 

 mark, but being at variance with established usage, is objected to by 

 some astronomers in this country, who, to avoid all misapprehension, 

 prefer the other name proposed by Mr. Hind, Clio, for which the 

 same symbol would answer, and Mr. Hind has acquiesced in this 

 preference. 



* Seo Annual of Scimtif-: ///sc'-rcrw. I?~>0, P. 311. 



