ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 



NEW PLANETS FOR 1858. 



The forty-sixth asteroidal planet was discovered by Mr. Pogson, of Oxford, 

 Eng., Aug. 16, 1857, and has received the name of Hestia. 



The forty -seventh, Aglaia, was discovered on the 15th of September, 18-57, 

 by Dr. Luther, of Bilk. 



The forty-eighth, Doris, and the forty-ninth, Pales, were both discovered 

 by M. Goldschmidt, of Paris, on the same evening, namely, the 19th of Sep- 

 tember, 1857. 



The fiftieth, Virginia, was discovered on the 4th of October, 1857, by Mr. 

 Ferguson of the observatory at Washington, D. C.* 



The asteroids discovered during the year 1858 are as follows : 



Nemausa, the fifty-first, discovered by M. Laurent, of Marseilles, Jan. 22. 



Europa, the fifty-second, discovered by M. Goldschmidt, February 6. 



Calypso, the fifty-third, discovered by Dr. Luther, of Bilk, April 4. 



Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth Asteroids. Two asteroids were discovered on 

 the night of the 10th of September: the one by M. Goldschmidt, at Paris, 

 and the other by Mr. George Searle, of the Dudley Observatory, at Albany. 



DONATI'S COMET. 



The following account of the great comet of 1858 is derived in part from 

 an article contributed to Runkle's Mathematical Journal, by Prof. G. P. 

 Bond, of the Cambridge Observatory. 



On the 2d June, 1858, a faint nebulosity, slowly advancing toward the 

 north, was descried by Donati at Florence, near the star A Leonis. This was 

 the earliest observation of the great comet of 1858, its distance from the sun 

 being then about two hundred millions of miles, while from the earth it was 

 yet more remote. Being, at first, inclined to question whether it might not 

 be identical with another comet just before seen in the same quarter of the 

 heavens (the third comet of 1858), he communicated the intelligence of the 

 discovery, with a suitable reserve, as "perhaps new; " and in a second de- 

 spatch he said, " It is possible that this comet is the same as that discovered 

 in America on the 2d of May." This conjecture, fortunately for Donati, did 

 not prove true ; although the apprehension of the Italian astronomer, from 

 the rival zeal of his transatlantic brethren, was not without reasonable foun- 

 dation, for no sooner had the moon withdrawn from the evening sky, so as 

 to allow the comet to be seen, than it was detected almost simultaneously at 

 three different points in America, each observer being at the time unaware 



* The table of asteroids discovered in 1857, as given in the Annual of Scientific 

 Discovery for 1858, was in some respects incorrect. Hence the repetition. 



