S74 Some Account of (he principal modern Catalogues 



each. The most comprehensive is that of Virgo, which contains 

 736 celestial objects. The entire catalogue is printed in so com- 

 pact a form, as to occupy no more than 96 pages. 



6. " Prsecipuarum Stellarum inerrantium positionea mediae, in- 



eunte seculo XIX. ex obscrvationibus habitis in specula Pa- 

 normitana, ab anno 1792 ad annum 1802." Fol. Panormi, 

 1S03. 



7. " PrjEcipuarum Stellarum," &c, (ut supra) " ab anno 1792 



ad annum 1813." 4to. Panormi, 1814. 



Notwithstanding the great extent and utility of Bode's Cata- 

 logue, yet too many positions therein (particularly among stars 

 of the 4th, 5th, and 6th magnitudes) were inserted merely from 

 the authority of Flamsteed and other old observers, to give entire 

 satisfaction to astronomers. They therefore received with eager- 

 ness the new catalogue of 6748 stars, presented by Professor 

 Piazzi, as being entirely founded on observations made at the same 

 place and with the same instruments. The stars are arranged in 

 it, in one continued series, following the order of Right Ascension: 

 and as the author had taken Wollaston's Catalogue for his guide, 

 there are few stars in that work whose positions he had not e.\- 

 amined and corrected*. 



After a lapse of eleven years, a second edition made its ap- 

 pearance, founded on a far greater number of observations. " In 

 this new catalogue, in which the number of stars is 7646, M. Pi- 

 azzi has not chosen to adopt any thing which he had not him- 

 self verified. He determined the right ascensions of the funda- 

 mental stars by a direct comparison with the sun. The others 

 have been deduced, as usual, by the difference of their passages 

 over the meridian, observed a great number of tiuies, and the 

 mean result has been taken." The number of observations from 

 which each position has been deduced, is inserted in a proper co- 

 lumn : they are generally seven or eight, and frequently extend to 

 double the number. The proper motions are also given " when- 

 ever it was possible to find in the earlier catalogues positions 

 sufficientlv exact for the purpose of comparison. The notes which 

 accompany this catalogue offer many curious remarks on the stars 

 whose motions had not yet been observed, or of which the bril- 

 liancy appears to vary periodically." 



* Professor Bode reprinted this first edition of Piazzi in an abridged 

 form, in small quarto, containing 5505 stars ; and annexed it to the second 

 edition of his small Atlas. The work is entitled " Representation des Astrcs 

 siir ;i4 planches en talUe douce, avec une instruction sur la mani^re do s'en 

 scrvir, et un catalogue de 5877 etoiles, nebuleuscs, et araas detoiles, par 

 J. E. Bode." Berlin et Stralsund, 1805. This catalogue is perhaps the 

 best thiit can be recommended to the young astronomer for general purposes, 

 particularly as it is more easily accessible than either of the original edi- 

 tions. The want of notes, and of proper synouyaics, may be mentioned as 

 its chief defect. Important, 



