ZONE OF PLANETS BETWEEN MARS AND JUPITER. 77 



star of the ninth magnitude, and has been named 

 Poly^mia. The eccentricity of the orbit of Polymnia ap- 

 pears to be greater than that of any other known member 

 of the planetary system, the difference between the dis- 

 tances from the sun at perihelion and aphelion amounting 

 to about the entire diameter of the earth's orbit. 



On the evening of April 5th, 1855, M. Chacornac, of 

 the Imperial Observatory of Paris, discovered another 

 small planet of the eleventh magnitude. In about two 

 hours its right ascension had changed nearly five seconds 

 of time, showing clearly its planetary character. On the 

 next day the planet was publicly announced, and was 

 soon found at the other observatories of Europe. This 

 planet has received the name of Circe. 



On the 19th of April, 1855, Dr. Luther at Bilk, dis- 

 covered a new planet of the eleventh magnitude, and on 

 the following day, the notice was communicated by tele- 

 graph to the editor of the Astronomische Nachrichten. On 

 the 21st it was detected both at the Hamburg and Bonn 

 observatories. At the request of the discoverer, Dr. 

 Peters and M. Kumker gave to the planet the name 

 Leucothea, the protectress of sailors. This planet is one 

 of the most distant of the group of asteroids. 



On the 5th of October, 1855, M. Goldschmidt at Paris, 

 discovered a new planet equal in brightness to a star of 

 the eleventh or twelfth magnitude. This new planet has 

 received the name of Atalanta, and the eccentricity of its 

 orbit appears to be greater than that of any other member 

 of the planetary system except Polymnia, and Leda. 



