irj 



XXXI. Hijhiry of Jjh-onomjt' for I be Yc'ar t8o2. Head in the 

 Afhciutum oj l^aris Deccnibcr ^o, bj Jkuome Lalande. 



L 



F we were, aftoniflied laft year to fee the Iliitorv of Allro- 

 nomv begin witli llic dilcovcry of a iiiulli planet, we ought 

 in be miicli more lo to liiul this year alio a diicoverv of the 

 hke Iciiul, which we did not expert. Ii was alfo by a for- 

 tunate chance that the tenth planet was found ; hut it was 

 iieceHarv that chance (hould favour an alliduous and intelli- 

 gent altrouomer. 



At nine in the evening on the aSth of March 1803, Dr. 

 Gibers obferved at Bremen Piazzi's planet, which had af- 

 forded occupation to allronnniers for a vear. IJc was exa- 

 mining with his telcfcope all the fniall liars in the Virgin's 

 wing to afcertain their pofitions ; and that he might be en- 

 abled to determine with more eafe the places of the planet, 

 he had arriveil at the twentieth ftar of Virgo, near which he 

 had obferved the planet in the month of Januarv,' and wa.s 

 uirprifcd to fee near this (tar, which is of the fixlh magnitude, 

 another fmall one of the fcventh. He was certain that it bad 

 not been there at the time of his tirfl obfevvations : he there- 

 fore hailcned to determine its pofition : and having continued 

 to view it for two hours, he perceived that in this interval it 

 had changed its polition. The two following nights afforded 

 hmi the means of determining its motion, which was 10' per 

 day. As ioon 'its he had made public this curious oblcrva- 

 liun, ailronomers took the earliei't opportunity of obfervina; 

 thi.s new ftar, and of calculatmg its orbit. Dr. Gaufs, an 

 able geometrician of Briuii\\iek, calculated the element?^ and 

 C. liurckhardt employed himfelf on lirnilar calculations. 



On the 4lh of June C. Burckhardt liuilhed his calculations 

 in regard to this ftar of Qlbers. We expec^ted them with 

 great impatience, being defirous vo know whc^lher it was a 

 planet or a comet. He fomid its revolution to be 4 years 

 7 months and 27 davs ; its diliance 2'785, or 96 millions of 

 leagues; its eccentricity ^-2463, which produces an inequa- 

 lity of 28^ 25'; its inclination 34" 51' ; its node 5' 22° 28'; 

 its aphelion iO' 2' 3' ; and the epoch of its longitude lor j 802 

 4^ 23"^ io'. 



On the T4th of November C. Burckhardt pnblifhed others 

 in the Monileur, which corrcfpond to the ohfervations made 

 as far as the 20th (;f September 1802. The revolution 4 years 

 J7 months 13 days; diltance 27699 ; eccentricity 0-2463; 

 xncliuation 34° 38^0"; node 5- 22" 37 '35"; aphelion ic* 



