CHAPTER X - THE PLANETOIDS

Summary

Number.—These bodies, also called minor planets, and, formerly, asteroids, comprise a very numerous class, and they are extremely small, being quite invisible to the naked eye except in one or two special cases. They all revolve in orbits situated between Mars and Jupiter. The total number discovered is about 300, of which Prof. J. Palisa of Vienna has found more than 70, and the late Dr. C. H. F. Peters of Clinton, N.Y., 49. I have not given exact numbers in the two former cases, because these discoveries are still rapidly progressing.

History of their Discovery.—The first known planetoid (Ceres) was sighted by Piazzi on Jan. 1, 1801. The following year, on March 28, Olbers found another (Pallas). In 1804, on Sept. 1, Harding discovered a third (Juno); and in 1807, March 29, Olbers was a second time successful (Vesta). Then for thirty-eight years no additions were made to the number. The host of planetoids circulating between Mars and Jupiter preserved their incognito without disturbance from the prying and wakeful eyes of astronomers.

But in 1845 Hencke, of Driessen, after years of watching, at length broke the spell of tranquillity by finding another small planet; and his example was emulated by many other observers in subsequent years. Hind, De Gasparis, and Goldschmidt were amongst the earliest and most successful of those who gathered new planets from amongst the stars of the zodiacal constellations.