Hifiory of AJlrdfiomy for the Year 1801. 113 



it revolves in four years. The following are tlie elements 

 found bv Burckhardt and Gaufs : 



Inclination - - 10'^ 47'jlnclination - 10'' 35' 57" 



Node - - 3' 20'' 58 I Node - - 2" 3i o 44 



Aphelion - 2 9 o JEpoch - - - 2' 16" 28' 



PalVage of the aphe- 

 lion Jan. I, 1801 8 hours 

 Kccentricity - 0*03 64 

 Semi-axis - - 2-574 



Mean anom. - 3 15 ^^ 

 Aphelion 10' 26' 27'' 38" 

 Eccentricity - 0"o8250i7 

 E()uHlion - - _ 9° 38' 



Revolution - 4*13 vears iDiltance - - - 2*7355 



The difl'ercnce of thefe elements appeared to me to throw 

 fome doubt on the reality of this orbit of four years ; but in 

 the beginning .of the year 1 802 it was perfeAly confirmed, 

 and we now have a ninth planet. 



On the 25th of Oclober we received a printed memoir of 

 Piazzi, with his obfervations and calculations. As he hopes 

 that this ftar will be acknowledged to be a planet, he has 

 given it the name of Ceres Ferdinandea, in honour of the. 

 king of Naples ; and Bode wilhes it to be called Juno: as 

 for my part, I thall call it Piazzi, as I gave the name of Hcr- 

 fchel to the planet difcovered in 1781. The pagan deities 

 are no longer interefting, and adulation pleal'es only the 

 perfon who is the object of it. 



On the 1 2th of July, in the evening, Meffier, Mechain 

 and Bouvard, each found a i'mall comet near the head of 

 the Great Bear ; and it appears that it was fcen the preceding 

 night by Pons, concierge of the obfervatorv at Marfeilles. 

 The Board of Longitude has given him the 600 francs which 

 I depofited in the hands of a notary for the perfon who fliould 

 difcover a comet ; the three able aftronomers of Piyis having 

 themfelves judged that theartilt ought to be encouraged. 



John Louis Pons w^as born at Peyre, a village in the de- 

 partment of the Upper Alps, on the 24ih of December 1761, 

 and has refuled at the obfervalory of Marfeilles fince the 

 3d of Febmary 1789: his conduct, addrcfs, and intelligence, 

 have procured him much cdecm from the dircAor of the 

 obfervatory. He conltructed ib.e uiglU-teleicopc, with which 

 he difcovered the comet of the nth of July 1801, on the 

 model of a tclelcopc by George Adams, which is at the 

 School of Navigation, Marfeilles. The iioartl of Longitude 

 have fcnt him a better one. 



I have had a new proof of the tittlity of the fifiy thoufanj 

 flats which I have procured to allroiiomy, and of the cxatt 

 pofuions which my ne|)hc\v Lvhanv'ois has fixed for the liais 

 ir)rmerly obiiTved. Several oi ihein have ferved to delermine 

 the |)ljces of the new comet, which Mellicr, Mechain and 



Vol. XII. No. 46. II Bouvard 



