ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA AND PROGRESS. 



95 



numbering of the subsequent discoveries to cor- 

 respond with this conclusion. Evidently, how- 

 ever, not to speak of this asteroid (80), all the 

 numbers now assigned must be considered as 

 subject to alteration, so long as there remains 

 a doubt in regard to (75) and (77) ; unless, in- 

 deed, these numbers shall be indefinitely left 

 blank. 



M. Tempel, of Marseilles, discovered, Septem- 

 ber 30th, 1864, a new planet having the bright- 

 ness of a star of the 10th [one account says of the 

 11-1 2th] magnitude, and to which he assigned 

 the name and number, Terpsichore (81). Dr. 

 Luther, of Bilk, November 27th, 1864, detected 

 another asteroid, Alcmene (82). At Naples, 

 April 26th, 1865, M. de Gasparis discovered a 

 new planet, which, in commemoration of Dante 

 and of the sixth centennial return in this year 

 of his natal day, he designated Beatrix, the 

 number being considered (83). August 26th, 

 1865, Dr. Luther added yet another to the list 

 of known minor planets : to this, which is of 

 a brightness corresponding to the tenth mag- 

 nitude, he has assigned the designation of Clio 

 (84). 



Thus, the list of new-found asteroids for 1864, 

 and to August, 1865, must for the present stand 

 as follows : 



1864. (80) [Sappho f] by Mr. Pogson. 



" (81 ) Terpsichore by M. Tempel. 



" (82) Alcmene by Dr. Luther. 



1865. (83) Beatrix by M. de Gasparis. 



" (84) Clio by Dr. Luther. 



, Humboldt had called attention to some re- 

 markable differences between the planets lying 

 without and those within the "asteroid plan- 

 et," or .asteroid zone. The superior planets are 

 large, are of comparatively low density, rotate 

 in somewhere near 10 hours, are much flattened 

 at their poles, and are admitted to have 21 sat- 

 ellites; while the inferior planets are smaller, 

 are more dense, rotate in periods of near 24 

 hours, are less flattened, and are as yet known 

 to have but one moon our own satellite. 

 Prof. Pierce has shown how a true planetary 

 ring of cosmical matter could be sustained for 

 a long period just within the orbit of Jupiter. 

 Noir, Mr. D. Trowbridge (Amer. Jour, of 

 Science, 1864-'65) concludes that an influence 

 of the same kind would sustain rings succes- 

 sively farther and farther in, to the Mercurial 

 ring;* so that each of them in succession would 

 be longer, .than were the superior planets sev- 

 erally, in aggregating into a planetary body. 

 And this circumstance, he thinks, suffices to 

 explain the differences of the inferior from the 

 superior planets, above indicated. . 



Again, -dividing 360 by 80, the number of 

 the planetoids known early in 1864, we obtain 

 for each an average space of 44 only of the 

 circle ; so that already we have approximately 

 a ring of these bodies. But it is not to be 

 supposed that the end of these discoveries is 

 reached ; and it is probable that much the 

 larger proportion of their entire number are ob- 

 jects too small for detection by our best tele- 

 scopes. The most rational theory of meteoric 



stones is that they are small asteroids. Some 

 of the thousands of these bodies, moving in 

 eccentric orbits, and subject to extraordinary 

 perturbations, may become satellites to some of 

 the large planets, and finally fall into them as 

 aeroliths. It is curious that the orbits of some 

 of the known asteroids intersect. The mean 

 depth in space, measured on a radius from the 

 sun, of the whole zone of the asteroids, lies, so 

 far as yet determined, between the limits of the 

 orbit of Feronia, 2.145 (times the earth's mean 

 distance from the sun), and Maximiliana, 3.452 

 (times the earth's mean distance) a breadth, 

 therefore, of 1.307 (times the mean radius of 

 the earth's orbit). 



M. H. Faye, whose view is also that of a con- 

 nection of the asteroids with meteoric bodies, 

 calls attention to the confirmatory circumstance 

 that the successive discoveries of asteroids have 

 proceeded steadily to bodies of less and less 

 size : while those found in the beginning of the 

 century rank among stars of the 7-8th magni- 

 tude, some of the more recently found do not 

 exceed the 12-13th magnitude. He is led to 

 infer also that other rings of asteroidal bodies 

 can exist in other regions of the solar system 

 a supposition already familiar to physicists. 



Jupiter. Upon this planet, spots of definite 

 shape and place are traceable in the dark spaces 

 between the bright belts; and Prof. Phillips 

 implies, from the analogy of the former appear- 

 ances with some which characterize the surface 

 of Mars, that upon Jupiter, as has been inferred 

 in the case of Mars, these permanent spots may 

 indicate features say outlines of land and water 

 on the planet's surface. The belts, on the 

 contrary, change in extent, outline, and number, 

 being constant only in their direction that par- 

 allel to the planet's rotation and in the color, 

 which is that of cloud reddened by morning or 

 evening sunshine, and not equally so in every 

 part. (See MAES.) 



Saturn. Mr. Proctor, in his work entitled 

 " Saturn and its System," maintains in regard to 

 the rings the hypothesis first advanced by Cas- 

 sini, to the effect that the perfect ring form is 

 an appearance only, and is due to the flight of 

 " disconnected satellites so small and so closely 

 packed that, at the immense distance to which 

 Saturn is removed, they seem to form a con- 

 tinuous mass." It may at the least be said, that 

 the most recent views in cosmical philosophy 

 rather support than contradict this theory. 



Satellites. Mr. Lassell, temporarily residing 

 at Malta, sent thence in 1864, to the Royal As- 

 tronomical Society, letters giving a resume of 

 his observations at that place. He finds but 

 four satellites for the planet Uranus, and but 

 one for Neptune ; though he suggests that an- 

 other and very distant satellite of the latter 

 planet may also exist. 



One of Mr. Lassell's communications is ac- 

 companied with a table, calculated by Mr. 

 Marth, giving the long-desired ephemeris of the 

 five inner satellites of Saturn. Of these satellites, 

 Tethys appears to be, by its brightness and the 



