1802.] 
of Sicily, made by M. Piazzi, the firk day 
of January.* ‘This planet is not appa- 
rently larger than a fixed ftar of the eighth 
magnitude ; the obfervations which he 
fent, and which were the refult of forty 
days diligent inveltigation, arrived too 
late for me to fcllow them up with others 
of my own; I have therefore been obliged 
to calculate its orbit by thofe made by M. 
Piazzi, Citizen Burckhardt, M. Olbers, 
M. Bode. M. Piazzi and. M. Gaufs 
think that its revolution round the fun is 
completed in about four years. The fol- 
lowing are the elements deduced from the 
obfervations and calculations, of Citizen 
Burckhardt, and M. Gauls :— 
Elements of the new Planet, according to 
Citizen Burckhardt. 
RO =e 
Inclination of its orbit 
Nodes Ae aa . 2 
Aphelion . ° . 2 ile ER 
Its paflage was in the aphelion, 
Jan. 3, 1801. 
Eccentricity of the orbit 0,0364 
Scmi-axis : é : 25 GA: 
Periodical revolution 4 years 13 centiemes. 
Elements of the new Planet,. according to 
M. Gaufs. 
s fe) t ut 
Inclination of its orbit 10 36° &7 
Nodes . . Mt SEN. SLANE oe Wt 
‘Epochofr8o1 . 22106 28.0 be 
Mean anomaly “ a SEEDS Bie wis nS 
Aphelion  . ; Ton, 26 
Eccentricity of the orbit 0,082,5017 
Equation : . oy 20 
Diftarce . : . 257355 
Periodical revolution 1652,2 days or 4,52 
years 
The difference between thefe elements, 
appeared'to me, at firft, to. throw fome 
‘doubt as to the reality of the difcovery; but 
at the beginning ofthe prefent year, it was 
pecteétly verified, and we may now reckon 
with certainty upon a new planet.+ 
On the 25th of Ogtober, we received 
M. Piazzi’s printed memoir, with his ob- 
fervations and calculations. And, ashe 
hoped the luminary would be recognized as 
a new planet, he modeftly gave it the nvme 
of Ceres de Ferdinand, in honor of the 
38 
* In this place I make ufe of the calendar 
common to all nations ; being perfuaded that 
the Frénch government will very foon re- 
nounce a mode of reckoning, which is not 
underftood and cannot be adopted by our 
neighbours, nor even by the generality of the 
French themfelves. 
+. It has lately been feenin every part of 
Great Britain —Tranflator, ete 
The Hiftiry of Afironomy, by C. Lalande. 
Q\7 
King of Naples,’ but M. Bode withed ie 
might be called Juno. For my part, I 
fhall call it the Piazzi*,as I denominated 
the planet, difcovered in the year 1781, 
the Her/chel, after the gentleman who 
firft obierved it. Pagan deities have , 
nothing remarkable to. intereft us, and 
flattery is pleafing to no one but the perfon 
who is the object of it. 
In the evening of the rathof July laf, 
Citizens Meffier, Mechain, and Bouvard, 
dif{covered, each by himfelf, a {mall comet 
near the head of the Great Bear, and it 
appears that ithad been feen the preceding 
night, by Citizen Pons, keeper of the 
Obfervatory at Marfeilles. - The Board 
of Longitude have prefented him 600 
francs, which I depofited in:the hands ofa 
notary to be given to him whe fhould firft, - 
difcover a comet; three able aftronomers 
at Paris having adjudged him deferving 
of encouragement. 
Jean Louis Pons was born at Peyre, 
a village of the department of the High - 
Alps, the 24th of December, 1761. He 
has refided at the Obfervatory of Mar- 
feilles ever fince the 3dof February 1789: 
his good conduét, his addrefs and’ under- 
fianding, have rendered him highly re- 
fpected by the Director of the Obferva- 
tory. The telefecope with which he dif- 
covered the comet onthe sith of July, 
was made by himfelf, having had for a 
pattern the one that belongs to the Navi- 
gation School in that city, and which 
was manufactured by Mr. George Adams, 
of London. ‘The Committee of Longi- 
tude have now fent him a better inftru- 
ment. 
This is a new proof of the great utility 
of the 50,000 ftars, which I have given 
to the {cience of aftronomy, and of the 
exact pofitions which my nephew, Citizen 
Lefrancais Lalande, has determined as be- 
longing to the fixed ftars known before. 
Many of them ferved to afcertain the plates 
of the new comet, which Citizens Meffier, 
Mechain, and Bouvard, have attended 
to with the utmoft affiduity, and its orbit 
will be completely determined, altho” it 
was feen but ten days. 
Citizen Thulis hasfent me feven fets 
of obfervations, made from the 12th to 
the 21ft of July, deduced entirely from 
the azimuths and heights, without having 
been able to compare them with the fixed 
ftars. We have been more fortunate at 
* In England, it is alfo generally deter- 
milned to call it the Piawzi ; juft as the other 
new planet is properly called zbe Herfcbel.—— 
Tranjiator. 
Paris, 
