5/2 Ajironotnj.. 



Zach are ftill too few in number to admit of any deeifive 

 opinion being formed refpe6ling the nature of this interelting 

 body. If it be coniidcred as a comet, its regular motion and 

 whole appearance oppofe any idea of this kind ; but there iS 

 every probability in favour of its being a planet, though its. 

 orbit muft have an unconnnonlv great inclination to that of 

 our earth. Dr. Olbers ventures to conlider it as a new pri- 

 mary planet of our fyliem, moving between Mars and Ceres 

 in an orbit very much mclined to the fun. Its period of re- 

 volution he makes three years, its mean dilUnce from the 

 fun 2,Vth of the dilbmce of our earth from the fun, and the 

 place of the afcending node 5' 20°. 



Mr. Walker, lecturer on aftronomy, has obferved this 

 body, and defcribes it as being of a pale red colour, very 

 faint, and lei's brilliant than the Ceres, vifible with a defin- 

 able difc with a magnifying power of 100 times. 



As the diftance of this fmall body from the earth is in- 

 creafmg, and its light decreafing, aftronomers n>uft haftea 

 to make good obfcrvations if they are defirous of determining 

 its orbit in an accurate manner : it will otherwrfe be difficult 

 to find it again. 



The following notice from the aflronomer Burckhardt 

 contains fome further ufeful information on this interelting 

 difcovery : 



"^ The ftar difcovcred bv Dr. Olbers on the 28th of March 

 has fo great a refemblance to a planet, that it was natural to 

 fuppofe its orbit to be fomewhat eccentric. I have placed it 

 fucceflively between the earth and Mars, between Mars and 

 Fiazzi's planet, and between the latter and .Tupjtcr. I l}ave 

 employed the eccentricities of one and of two tenths (thofe 

 of Alars and Mercury), but neither of ihcfe fuppolilions has 

 fucceeded. It is eafy to make a very fmall eccentricity an- 

 fwer to the longitudes, but the latitudes do not indeed begin 

 to approach eacli other but by fuppofing it to be very great, 

 (four fixteenths). 



" Thefe relearchcs fecm to me to prove that we nnilt fup- 

 pofe a very eccentric orbit; and I have begun to calculate a 

 parabolic orbit a? for a comet, and the elements I have found 

 are as follows : 

 Inclination of the orbit 

 Afcending node - - 5 



Place of the perihelion - 3 



Perihelion diftance - - 



Time of the paflage of the perihelion September 29, 1801 



16" 48'. 

 The motion dircft. ,, rp, ,. 



4 



