156 
SECOND REPORT— 1832 . 
Tables, and even the equations of condition for correcting the 
elements are formed (as in Milan Eph, 1822). In reflecting on 
these circumstances, it appeared to me desirable that one set 
of good instruments should be devoted to the observation of 
planets : and when the Cambridge Observatory was put under 
my care, I determined on making the planets my principal ob¬ 
ject. I hope in a few years to collect a mass of observations 
directed to this point that will possess great value. I have al¬ 
ready obtained and compared with Tables about 1100 right 
ascensions of planets, besides numerous observations of the 
sun and moon. 
VII. At the beginning of the century the only bodies recog¬ 
nised as belonging exclusively to the solar system were Mer¬ 
cury, Venus, the Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, the 
satellites of these planets, and Halley’s comet. As to Lexell’s 
comet of 1770, whose orbit appeared to have been changed by 
the action of Jupiter from a parabola to an ellipse of short 
period, it was generally believed that by again passing near to 
Jupiter it had been so much deflected that probably it had 
completely left the system. 
On Jan. 1, 1801, Piazzi discovered a moveable body. It was 
generally observed in Europe during 41 days, in which time it 
described an arc of 3 degrees ; when it was lost from its proxi¬ 
mity to the sun. The calculation of its orbit was taken up 
entirely by the German astronomers. They soon found that 
the supposition of a parabolic orbit (which was the only one 
that had usually been made,) could not be applied with the 
least success : and Gauss invented a new method (which with 
some alteration was afterwards published in his Theoria Motiis. 
He at length announced that this body was a planet, moving 
in an orbit rather more eccentric and more inclined to the 
ecliptic than those of the old planets, and intermediate in di¬ 
stance from the Sun to Mars and Jupiter. Its discoverer gave 
it the name of Ceres Ferdinandea. The joy of the German 
astronomers at this discovery was undoubtedly increased by 
the circumstance, that the mean distance of the new planet 
gave continuity to a curious law empirically established (as a 
rough representation of the distances of the successive planets,) 
by Bode, in which one was wanting between Mars and Jupiter. 
Their essays are generally headed, “ On the long-expected 
planet between Mars and Jupiter,” or with some similar title. 
So accurate were Gauss’s elements, that in the beginning of 
December of the same year it was found again, and has since 
been regularly observed at most observatories (at least the 
