C 245 1 
XI. Observations and Measurements of the Planet Vesta. By 
John Jerome Schroeter, F. R. S. 
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN. 
Read May 28, 1807. 
At our very first observations with magnifying powers of 
150 and 300 applied to the excellent new 15-feet reflector, 
we found the planet Vesta without any appearance of a disc , 
merely as a point like a fixed star with an intense, radiating 
light, and exactly of the same appearance as that of any fixed 
star of the sixth magnitude. In the same manner we both 
afterwards saw this planet several times with our naked eyes, 
when the sky was clear, and when it was surrounded by 
smaller invisible stars, which precluded all possibility of mis- 
taking it for another. This proves how very like the intense 
light of this planet is to that of a fixed star. 
As the observations and measurements of Ceres, Pallas, and 
Juno, were made with the same eye-glasses but with the 13-feet 
reflector, we soon after compared the planet Vesta with the 
same glasses of 13 6 and 288 times magnifying power in the 
13-feet reflector. In both these telescopes its image was,’ 
without the least difference , that of a fixed star of the 6th magni- 
tude with an intense radiating light ; so that this new planet 
may with the greatest propriety be called an asteroid. 
April 26th in the evening at 9 o’clock, true time, I succeeded 
mdcccvii. K k 
