118 
The intelligent Profeffor_ Seyffer, of 
Gottingen, who is one of the moft zealous 
objervers of the new planet, and may jutft- 
ly claim the merit of being one of the firft 
re-difcoverers of Ceres as well as of Pallas, 
proceeds to communicate his obfervations 
made on Pailas at the Royal Obfervatory 
_ ©f Gottingen, by which the ellipfis of Dr. 
Gauls is perfectly confirmed, and neither 
a parabola, nor a new larger ellipfis, to_be 
admitted, as has of laté been pretended to 
be found by French aftronomers. Dr. 
Ganfs, who has received part of his edu- 
cation at the celebrated Univerfity of Got~ 
tingen, and whomProfeffor Seyffer remem- 
bers, with the greateft fatisfaction, as one 
of his friends and pupils, has made a third 
attempt of finding out the moft poffibly ac- 
curate ellipfis for the orbit of Pallas, the 
refult of which he has communicated ina 
letter to Profeflor Seyffer. On comparing 
his obfervations with thefe new elements 
of Dr. Gaufs, M. Seyffer found them per- 
fectly agreeing, except in fome trifling dif- 
ferences, and they even correfpond with 
the newelt obfervations made on the rgth, 
2zoth, and 21ft of June, fo that there 
feems to be no occafion for making, for 
the prefent, any further corrections in 
them, as Profeflor Seyffer thinks they will 
be quite fuficient for re-difcovering Pal- 
las in the year 1803, provided the planet 
has light enough as to be {een, as it might be 
poffible that Pallas, on account of its 
great diftance from the earth, is not vifible 
during the years 1803 and 1804, or, at 
leaft, is only to be feen by means of the 
moft exquifite inftruments, and that it is 
likely to appear again in the year 1805. 
tis not yet time to attend to the perturba- 
tions of Pallas, as even the obfervations 
on Ceres, which have now been continued. 
for above one year and a haif, fhew not 
the leaft traces of perturbations. Dr. 
Herfchel writes, ina letter dated Slough, 
May 22, to Profefior Seyffer, his having 
made many cbfervations on the new celef- 
tial bodies, Ceres and Pallas, on which 
fubje&t he has communicated a paper to 
the Royal Society at London, read on the 
ath and 13th of May. It contains, 
among other particulars, a fet of very ac- 
curate meafures of the diamcters of thefe 
fiars. Phe refult of thefe meafures is, 
that Ceres is only about 162 Englith 
miles in diameter, and Pallas no more 
than 7o. Im the calculation cf thefe 
quantities, he hes deduced the diflance of 
the two ftars from the earth, from Dr. 
Gaufs’s elements of their orbits (the ele- 
ments ufed for this purpofe are thofe of 
the firft attempt), which certainly muft be 
recr enough to convince us, that they are 
Z . 
Account of the new Planet, Pallas 
[Sept. 1, 
extremely fmall bodies. He afterwards 
enters into an examination of the nature 
of thefe two bodies, and compares them 
with planets and comets. He then de- 
fines what we call planets, and fhews, 
that we cannot put thefe two bodies into 
their ciafs, as they are not only out of the 
zodiac, but Mercury, the fmalleft of our 
planets, is more than a hundred thoufand - 
times larger in bulk than Pallas. He 
fhews, in the next place, that they are not 
comets; and, fince we can neither call 
them planets, nor comets, it follows, that 
the interefting difcoveries of M. Piazzi 
and Dr. Olbers have introduced to our_ 
acquaintance a new {pecies of celeftial bo-~ 
dies, with which hitherto we have not. 
been ecquainted. He then enters into an 
examination of the principal features in 
character of the planets and comets, and 
of thefe new bodies.~ Planets are feen to 
move about in the zodiac; comets have 
a vilible coma. ‘The new ftars are mixed 
with the fmall fixed flars of the heavens, 
and refemble them {o much, that, even — 
with a good telefcope, they cannot be dif- 
tinguifhed from them. From this their 
afteroidical or ftar-like appearance, he 
takes theirnames, and calls thefe new ce- 
leftial bodies AsrEROiDs. So that pla- 
nets, afteroids, and comets, will make 
three diftin& fpecies of celeftial bodies. 
His definition of this additional {pecies isas 
follows :—** Afferoids are {mall celeftial. 
bodies, which move in orbits, either of 
little or of confiderable eccentricity round. 
the fun; the planes of which may be in- 
clined to the elliptic in any angle whatfo-. 
ever. Their motion may be direét or re- 
trograde, and they may or may not have 
confiderable atmofpheres, very {mall co- - 
mas, difks, or nuclei.” He then proceeds 
to fhew, that this definition will take in 
future difcoveries, which, from the lately 
adopted method of obferving, we have 
reafon to hope will foon be made. That 
Pallas is an afteroid, might alone be proved 
from the great inclination of its orbit, 
which, according to Dr. Gaufs’s elements, 
is not lefs than 33°; and Ceres, which is 
now actually out of the zodiac, can cer- 
tainly not, with any propriety, be feparate 
ed from its companion, and is fo {mall a 
body as to have an afteroidical appear 
ance. Moreover, if we were tocall ita 
planet, it would not fill the intermediate 
{pace between Mars and Jupiter with the 
proper dignity required for that ftation. 
The afteroids Ceres and Pallas have no 
fatellites.”? Obfervations on the nature 
of the new planet from the mafter- 
ly pen of the great Herfchel, are in- 
titled to the moft diftinguifhed vias a 
of. 
