

ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA AND PROGRESS. 



149 



In a communication to the ninth volume "Watson, of the observatory at Ann Arbor, 



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(ne\v series) of the " Scientific American," Mr. 

 H. P. Tuttle briefly names some of the most 

 remarkable evidences of the progress of as- 

 tronomy a progress, he thinks, behind that of 

 few, if any, of the other sciences since the 

 beginning of the current century. To the six 

 planets only that were known at the end of 

 the year 1800, we are now able to add 80 others 

 which have been since discovered 79 of them 

 directly by aid of the telescoge, and one (Nep- 

 tune) by its use guided by mathematical de- 

 ductions from observed phenomena of other 

 planetary bodies. . In case of Saturn a new 

 ring and a new satellite have been disclosed. 

 Up to 1812, but one comet (Halley's) was cer- 

 tainly known to return : before the close of 

 1858, there had been added to the list of pe- 

 riodical comets 9 whose periods vary from 3 

 :o 70 years, and about 20 with periods ranging 

 roni 100 to 10,000 years; while nearly 100 

 are now known whose orbits are of sensibly 

 parabolic form. 



Again, while Sir "Wm. Herschel was the first 

 to detect the existence of multiple stars usu- 

 ally binary, or as these are commonly called, 

 " double " more than 100 instances of such 

 pairs or sets of stars, the members of each of 

 which have a mutual revolution about their 

 common centre of gravity, are now known. 

 In case of some of these double, or generally 

 speaking, " multiple suns," one complete revo- 

 lution of the sort here referred to, and part of 

 a second, have been already noted. In theo- 

 retical astronomy, Dr. Hansen's new tables of 

 the moon, and Leverrier's new tables of the 

 sun, Mercury, and Venus, now enable the as- 

 tronomer to calculate with an accuracy far ex- 

 ceeding that before attainable the celestial 

 phenomena which were taking place twenty 

 centuries ago. Of course, a chief and indeed 

 indispensable means to all these important re- 

 sults, has been the single device of the teles- 

 cope. 



Asteroids. In the preceding volume was 

 given a list of the minor planets from (51) to 

 (76) inclusive the period of their discovery 

 extending from the year 1857 to Oct. 1862 ; 

 and also certain particulars of interest connect- 

 ed with the discovery of some of these. As- 

 tronomers appear as yet to allow asteroid (75) 

 to retain its place, subject to the result of fu- 

 ture observations. The record for 1862 is, 

 then, to be completed by the discovery, Nov. 

 12th of that year, of asteroid (77) by Dr. 0. 

 H. F. Peters, of Hamilton College Observatory. 

 This planet, however, which was at the time 

 near to Feronia, and corresponded in bright- 

 ness with a star of the ll-12th magnitude, very 

 soon eluded observation, and may even require 

 discovery de novo. No name appears to have 

 been assigned to it. Asteroid (78) was found 

 by Dr. Luther, of Bilk, March 15th, 1863. It 

 appears as a star of the 10th magnitude, and 

 was named by its discoverer Diana. On the 

 night of Sept. 14th, of the same year, Prof. J. C. 



Michigan, discovered asteroid (79). This planet 

 which shows about the 10th magnitude, was 

 independently discovered by M. Tempel, at Mar- 

 seilles, Oct. 3d and 4th ; and later elsewhere. 

 Prof. Watson has chosen for it the name of 

 Eurynome. The supposed asteroid (80) an- 

 nounced by M. Schmidt, of Athens, proves to 

 be an instance of erroneous observation the 

 before known planet, Hygeia, having in fact 

 been rediscovered. 



Thus, the record of these discoveries, from 

 Oct. 1862 to Oct. 1863, is as follows : 



1862, (77) by Dr. Peters. 



1863, (78) Diana " Dr. Luther. 



" (79) Eurynome, " Prof. Watson. 



Comets. Comet III, 1862, announced in the 

 preceding volume as discovered by Dr. Bruhns, 

 was first detected about three days earlier 

 (Nov. 28th), by Professor Respighi, of Bologna. 

 The discovery of Comet I, 1863, is mention- 

 ed in the account of last year. Comet 

 II, 1863, was found, April 12th, by M. Klink- 

 erfues, in right ascension 309, declina- 

 tion 3 south. On the 19th of May, it 

 was 10 distant from the north pole, and 

 appeared as a round nebulosity, 5' to 6' in 

 diameter. Comet III, 1863 by Respighi, April 

 13th, near /3 Pegasi. Its nucleus then had 

 the brightness of a star of the 6th magnitude ; 

 April 25th, the tail had a length of 2. Comet 

 IV, 1863, was found, Oct. 9th, by M. Backer, 

 of Nauen. Like the other comets of the year 

 thus far named, it was telescopic merely. It at- 

 tained its greatest brilliancy, Dec. 8th ; perihe- 

 lion Dec. 27th. Comet V, 1863 by M. Tempel, 

 Marseilles, Nov. 4th ; this was visible to the 

 naked eye, its nucleus nearly stellar. Comet 

 VI, 1863, was observed by M. Schmidt, at 

 Athens, in the month of December. 



In a supplementary page inserted in the 

 "Amer. Jour, of Science," January, 1864, ap- 

 peared a note from Prof. Watson, of the ob- 

 servatory at Ann Arbor, in relation to the 

 (supposed) discovery of a new comet by him, 

 on the evening of January 4 9th, 1864. The 

 comet was then quite large and bright, with a 

 nucleus strongly condensed at the centre, and 

 a tail li in length. From observations con- 

 tinued to the 12th, Prof. W. inferred a resem- 

 blance, in the elements of the orbit to that of 

 the comet of 1810 ; and he remarks that sub- 

 sequent observations must determine whether 

 the comet had returned in the interval. In a 

 later communication (" N. Y. Evening Post," 

 Feb. 1st), he states that the comet would be very 

 near the earth about the date just given, and 

 suggests an attempt to determine by it the so- 

 lar parallax. It does not yet appear that these 

 anticipations have all been well grounded. 



In the " Evening Post " of February 6th, ap- 

 peared a letter from Messrs. Silliman and Dana, 

 inclosing a communication of Mr. D. M. Covey, 

 of Southville, N. Y., dated December 26th, 

 1863, and addressed through the " Herald of 

 Progress" to Prof. D. Trowbridge, in which 



