DISCOVERY OF A SUPPOSED COMET 69 



the neighbourhood of H Geminorum, that appeared 

 visibly larger than the rest. Being struck with its 

 uncommon magnitude, he compared it to H Gemin- 

 orum and the small star in the quartile between 

 Auriga and Gemini, and finding it so much larger 

 than either of them, suspected it to be a comet. . . . 

 The sequel has shown that my surmises were well 

 founded, this proving to be the comet we have lately 

 observed." By the method he followed he was " en- 

 abled to distinguish the quantity and direction of the 

 motion of this comet in a single day, to a much 

 greater degree of exactness than could have been done 

 in so short a time by a sector or transit instrument ; 

 nay, even an hour or two were intervals long enough 

 to show that it was a moving body, and, consequently, 

 had its size not pointed it out as a comet, the change 

 of place, though so trifling as 2J seconds per hour, 

 would have been sufficient to occasion the discovery." 

 Satisfied that he had done all he could do, Herschel 

 concluded his paper by saying, " I failed not to give 

 immediate notice of this moving star, and was happy 

 to surrender it to the care of the Astronomer-Royal 

 and others, as soon as I found they had begun their 

 observations upon it." The moving star was not a 

 comet. It was a wanderer, who had been seen before 

 and classified as a fixed star. The planet was what 

 is now called Uranus. 



The announcement of the discovery sent a flutter 

 of excitement through all the observatories of Europe, 

 which went on increasing when it was found that 

 they could not agree on what or who the stranger was. 

 Almost from its first appearance English astronomers 

 believed it to be a planet that had long been wanted 



