IX. On the Planet Saturn. By M. Smiru, Esq. 
To the Editor of the Philosophical Magazine and Journal. 
Sir, 
OBSERVING in a very excellent work just published on 
telescopes, by Dr. Kitchener, an account of a singular 
appearance which the planet Saturn presented in the years 
1805 and 1818 (for which appearance no reason has been as- 
signed), and conceiving that the phenomenon admits of an easy 
explanation, I beg leave to trouble you with the following re- 
marks on it. 
The passage in Dr. Kitchener’s book to which I allude is 
the following, at page 349. 
** The singular figure of which the body of Saturn was ob- 
served by Sir William Herschel on April 19, 1805, when he 
says ‘the figure of Saturn is somewhat like a parallelogram, 
with the four corners rounded off deeply, but not so much as 
to bring it to a spheroid,’ is very like the appearance which 
the planet presented in September 1818, when I made a sketch 
of it, which is like to Sir W. H.’s.. I have occasionally ob- 
served this planet for nearly 30 years, and I do not remember 
to have seen the body of it of this singular form, except for a 
few months at the time I have mentioned.” 
Now, sir, if we consider that in the year 1818 the earth 
was in the plane of Saturn’s equator, and that it is only in 
that plane once in fifteen years, we shall easily comprehend the 
reason of this phenomenon. The true figure of Saturn can 
never be observed except on such occasions, because it is only 
then that the visible disc of the planet is bounded by a meri- 
dian; for it is evident, that whatever be the true figure of the 
planet (provided it be a solid of revolution), it must to an eye 
placed vertically over its pole appear a perfect sphere; conse- 
quently, as we recede from the plane of its equator it must ap- 
proximate to the spherical figure :—on this principle we may 
expect to see the planet again in its true shape in the year 1833. 
It may here be proper to remark, that when we are in the 
plane of Saturn’s equator we are also in the plane of his ring ; 
and therefore that in making a diagram of the planet it would 
be improper to draw it of its true shape, except when the ring 
is represented edgewise, or as a straight line bisecting the body 
of the planet ; for when the ring appears open, the figure of the 
planet will not sensibly vary from a sphere. 
The manner in which the ring of Saturn is balanced, so 
that the planet shall always occupy its centre, has been thought 
wonderful even by some celebrated astronomers. To me it ap- 
Vol. 67. No. 383. Jan, 1826. H pears 
