the two lately discovered celestial Bodies. 223 
be seen. The coma about it, or rather the coma itself, for 
no star appears within it, would certainly measure, at first 
sight, 4 or 5 times as much as it will do after it has been 
properly kept in view, in order to distinguish between the hazi- 
ness which surrounds it, and that part which may be called the 
body. 
May 1. Pallas has a very ill defined appearance; but the 
whole coma is compressed into a very small compass. 
I3 h 5 '’ 20-feet reflector; power 477. I see Pallas well, and 
perceive a very small disk, with a coma of some extent about it, 
the whole diameter of which may amount to 6 or 7 times that 
of the disk alone. 
May 2, 13 11 ok 10-feet reflector. A star of exactly the same 
size, in the finder, with Pallas, viewed with 516^, has a different 
appearance. In the centre of it is a round lucid point, which is 
not visible in Pallas. The evening is uncommonly calm and 
beautiful. I see Pallas better defined than I have seen it before. 
The coma is contracted into a very narrow compass ; so that 
perhaps it is little more than the common aberration of light of 
every small star. See the memorandum to the observation of 
Ceres, May 2. 
On the Nature of the new Stars. 
From the account which we have now before us, a very im- 
portant question will arise, which is, What are these new stars, 
are they planets, or are they comets ? And, before we can enter 
into a proper examination of the subject, it will be necessary to 
lay down some definition of the meaning we have hitherto affixed 
to the term planet. This cannot be difficult, since we have seven 
Gg 2 
