RefleBions o?i the new Planei. 67 



fo near, cannot be found by the beft telefcopes, though every 

 Tmall fpot in the heavens is every night examined with the 

 greateft diligence ? But- if this planet fliould once be difco- 

 vered, or if it be really difcovered, it will be eafily compre- 

 hended whv, as a telefcopic ftar, it could have remained fo 

 long concealed among the innumerable multitude with which 

 the heavens are covered*. Profeffor Wunfch thinks, that 

 as the fatellitcs of Saturn and Uranus, which fliine only with 

 a pale faint light, can be feen by means of good telefcopes, 

 this concealed planet might alfo have been feen. But pro- 

 feilpr Wunfch docs not refleft, that to fearch for an exceed- 

 ingly fmall moveable luminous point, that changes its place 

 in the immenfity of the heavens, is much more difficult than 

 to fearch for a fatcllite, which always remains ni the neigh- 

 bourhood of its primary planet, and mull even be found in 

 tiie field of the obferver's telefcope. As profelTor VWuifch is 

 a good mathematician, he may calculate the probability and 

 poifibility of the difcovery of a fatellite and of fuch a planet. 

 it is poflible that this planet, as was the cafe with Uranus, 

 may have been feen feveral times; but it is alfo poflible that 

 it is not always vilible. For, (ince it appears onlv as a tele- 

 fcopic ftar during; the time of its neareli approach to the earth, 

 at its greateft diftance from us it may cfcape the beft inftru- 

 ments and difappear entirely ; w hich renders the finding of it 

 ftill more difficult and uncertain. 



/\11 thefe impediments might in part have been forefeen 5 

 and it was only by an accident, or fyftematic regulation, thai 

 the difcovery of this planet amongft the immenfe number of 

 telefcopic ftars was poOible. In the year 1787, when I un- 

 dertook, at Gotha, a new rcvifion of the ftarry heavens, my 

 view was to fearch for this planet, to which I was particu- 

 larly encouraged by the auguft founder of the obfervatory of 

 Gotha. I therefore confined myiePP' merely to the zodiacal 

 ilars, and made a catalogue containing the right afcenfion of 

 thefe ftars, under a conviction that it was poflible by thefe 

 means alone to fall upon this concealed planet. 



In the autumn of laft year, when I had the pleafure of 

 undertaking a ftiorl aftronomical tour to Ccile, Bremen, and 

 Lilienthal, and of fpcnding a few agreeable weeks in tlie 

 company of forne of the ableft German aftronomers, thefe 



^ On the ilil'coxcry of Uranus Lalande made tlie following reHcftion : 

 J^e nombre dcs ttoilti ili; ftptienic giaudeiir eft fi proJij;itux qu'oii auroit 

 regardc conime impollibJc «r inutile de Its obfervcr routes, et a pluficurg 

 rcfirifts; tela tut t.ic c< pendant n-iceflaire pour favoir s'il n'y en avoit pas 

 quclnu'un qui Cut iju niouvement. y[>hfrr.cr. d<s yiou-v. lekjl. vol. viii, 

 p. 88. — Lalande iierc alludes to ftars of tlie 7th magnitude, but Hera ap- 

 i'Cars as a ftar of the Itli or 9:h, 



E 2 eminent 



