70 Reflc&lons on the new Vlamt. 



note in 0£l:ober 1785 *, when I had the pleafure of formingj 

 a peribnal acquaintance with this worthy friend at Berhn, 

 correfponded perfe6lly with his own, and confequently with 

 thofe of Piazzi. I was therefore not only of opinion that 

 the fuppofed comet might be the invifible phmct fo long 

 fought for in vain, but found that Oriani of Milan, from 

 whom I received a letter two days after, entertained the fame 

 opinion, that this ftar was the planet fuppofed to cxift be- 

 tween Mars and Jupiter. Piazzi hinifclf, even in January, 

 (Piazzi's letter to Oriani is dated on the fame day as that to 

 Bode, viz. the 24th,) informed Oriani that he confidercd this 

 ftar, which he firfl fuppofed to be a comet, as a real planet. 

 The honour, therefore, not only of having firft difcovered this 

 flar, but that alfo of having firft afcertained it to be a planet, 

 cannot be refufcd to Piazzi ; and one might almoft fufpeti 

 (though we can hardly afcribe fuch -a motive to him) that he 

 wiflied to retain to himfelf likewife the honour of having firft 

 calculated its orbit, ids he commLmicated his obfervations iu 

 fo fparing and imperfect a manner. 



Profeffbr Bode announced this difcovery and conjecture to 

 the Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin, and caufed it to 

 be publiflied in the Berlin Gazette of May 12, the Jena Lite- 

 rary Gazette of May 6, and in the Hamburgh paper of the 

 13th, from which it was copied into other journals. 



Two days after I received profcflbr Bode's letter, and before 

 I could return an anfwer I received one from Oriani, dated 

 April 7, in which he fays : " T have received a letter from 

 Piazzi at Palermo, which contains information highly worthy 

 of your attention and of all aftronomers. He writes me, that 

 on the ift of January 1801 he had obferved a ftar, of the 8th 

 or 9th magnitude, in the fhoidder of Taurus. On the ad 

 of January he found this ftar had advanced about 3' 30''' 

 further towards the north, and about 4 min. towards o Aries. 

 The two following days, the 3d and 4th, he found nearly 

 the fame motion. On the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th, the 

 heavens were fo obfcured that he could make no obfervation. 

 On the loth and nth he again faw the (iar; and afterwards 

 on the 13th, 14th, 17th, 18th, i9th, 21ft, 23d, and 23d of 

 January. From the joth to the jJth its motion, from being 

 retrograde, had become direft. He adds, that on the firlt 

 day of obfervation (Jan. ift) its right afcenfion was 51° 47'', 

 and its declination 16^ 8' north. On the 23d of January he 

 found R. A. 51^- 46', and N. D. 17° 8'. He writes alfo, that 

 he firft anriounced this ftar as a comet; but, as he alwavs 



* Thefe tlemcnts had been communicatecl nl lb to the duke of Gotha, 

 to count Bruhl at London, and Kohlcr at Drefdea. 



6 obferved 



