The Asteroids; Or Minor Planets Between Mars and Jupiter.

The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Asteroids, by Daniel Kirkwood
Transcriber's Note:
Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible, including non-standard spelling and punctuation. Some apparent typographical errors in the indices and names of asteroids in Tables I and II have been corrected.
BY DANIEL KIRKWOOD, LL.D., PROFESSOR EMERITUS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF INDIANA; AUTHOR OF COMETS AND METEORS, METEORIC ASTRONOMY, ETC.
PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 1888.
Copyright, 1887, by Daniel Kirkwood.
The rapid progress of discovery in the zone of minor planets, the anomalous forms and positions of their orbits, the small size as well as the great number of these telescopic bodies, and their peculiar relations to Jupiter, the massive planet next exterior,—all entitle this part of the system to more particular consideration than it has hitherto received. The following essay is designed, therefore, to supply an obvious want. Its results are given in some detail up to the date of publication. Part I. presents in a popular form the leading historical facts as to the discovery of Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Vesta, and Astræa; a tabular statement of the dates and places of discovery for the entire group; a list of the names of discoverers, with the number of minor planets detected by each; and a table of the principal elements so far as computed.
In Part II. this descriptive summary is followed by questions relating to the origin of the cluster; the elimination of members from particular parts; the eccentricities and inclinations of the orbits; and the relation of the zone to comets of short period. The elements are those given in the Paris Annuaire for 1887, or in recent numbers of the Circular zum Berliner Astronomischen Jahrbuch .
DANIEL KIRKWOOD.
Bloomington, Indiana, November, 1887.
The first observer who watched the skies with any degree of care could not fail to notice that while the greater number of stars maintained the same relative places, a few from night to night were ever changing their positions. The planetary character of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn was thus known before the dawn of history. The names, however, of those who first distinguished them as wanderers are hopelessly lost. Venus, the morning and evening star, was long regarded as two distinct bodies. The discovery that the change of aspect was due to a single planet's change of position is ascribed to Pythagoras.