$2 Particulars refpeding the neiv Vianet. 



Apheliiim - -. - lo' 26° 27' 38" 



Ai'cending node - - - 2210 44 



Inclination of orbit - - o 10 36 57 



Eccentricity 0,0825017 to its mean diflance unity. 



]SIean diftance from the fun 3'7673. 



Mean diurnal heliocentric and tropical motion, fay, 12' 



50.914". 



Periodic lime 168 1 days, or 4 years 7 months. 



Baron Von Zach, dire61:or of the obfervatory of Gotha, 

 writes as folIo\vs to C. Mechain, adminiftrator of the obfer- 

 vatory of Paris : 



^^ M. Schroter of Lilicnthal has fecn, with his large tele- 

 fcopes, the new planet Ceres, under a difc of nearly 2'. He 

 fufpefts that it has two fatellites. The planet is enveloped in 

 a very thick atniofphere, for it appears to be furrounded with 

 much nebulofity. I am very anxious to learn what Dr. Iler- 

 fchel will tell us refpetling it : in the mean time I thought 

 it my duty to write you this in hafte." 



Elliptic elements of the new planet^ corrc£led by M. Gaufs 

 from his laft obfervations : 

 Diurnal tropical heliocentric motion 770* 7376". 

 Tropical revolution, 1681*^ 12'' 9"". 



It is a curious circumllance that the difcovery of this planet 

 has been long expcfted, and even in fome meafure prcdicled. 

 Profeflbr Bode, of Berlin, in his Kurz.cr Entivurf der Ajlro-. 

 nonujchen Wi[)'cnchaftcn^ Berlin 3794, § 387, has the follow- 

 ing paffjige : 



"Is it probable that Uranus, or the Georgian planet, is really 

 fituated at the utmoft limit of our folar world ? This appears 

 to be very doubtful, coiifidering the immenfe fpace interpofed 

 between it and the neareft fixed Itars. Other planets per- 

 haps may be (till more remotely fituated, and may perform 

 their revolutions unfeen by human eyes. We can icarcely 

 fuppofe that any planet exills nearer to the fun than ISIercury: 

 but confidering the proportions of the didanccs of the planets 

 from the fun, we obferve between Mars and Jupiter, a di- 

 ftance far greater than a coniparifon of the other dillances 

 would lead us to expeci-, and this fpace may perhaps be 

 occupied by a planet yet unknown." 



Similar ideas feem to have been entertained in this couutrv, 

 even long anterior to the conjeftures of Lambert and the 

 German aflronomers, as appears bv the following, which is 

 given as a note in a work lately publllhed on ailronomy, by 

 Mr. Olinthus Gregory, teacher of mathematics, Cambridge. 



" Mr. Maclaurin and other philofonhers expected nearly 



one hundred years ago, that fuch a difcovery as this of 



6 Piajzi 



