) was chosen,—an altar surmounted with a censer holding the sacred fire.
The average distance of these bodies from the sun is two hundred and sixty-one millions of miles; and it is remarkable that their orbits are very near together. Taking the distance of the earth from the sun for unity, their respective distances are 2.77, 2.77, 2.67, 2.37. Their times of revolution around the sun are nearly equal, averaging about four and a half years.
In respect to the inclination of their orbits to the ecliptic, there is also considerable diversity. The orbit of Vesta is inclined only about seven degrees, while that of Pallas is more than thirty-four degrees. They all, therefore, have a higher inclination than the orbits of the old planets, and of course make excursions from the ecliptic beyond the limits of the zodiac. Hence they have been called the ultra-zodiacal planets. When first discovered, before their place in the system was fully ascertained it was also proposed to call them asteroids, a name implying that they were planets under the form of stars. Their title, however, to take their rank among the primary planets, is now generally conceded.
The eccentricity of their orbits is also, in general, greater than that of the old planets. You will recollect that this language denotes that their orbits are more elliptical, or depart further from the circular form. The eccentricities of the orbits of Pallas and Juno exceed that of the orbit of Mercury. The asteroids differ so much, however, in eccentricity, that their orbits may cross each other. The orbits of the old planets are so nearly circular, and at such a great distance apart, that there is no danger of their interfering with each other. The earth, for example, when at its nearest distance from the sun, will never come so near it as Venus is when at its greatest distance, and therefore can never cross the orbit of Venus. But since the average distance of Ceres and Pallas from the sun is about the same, while the eccentricity of the orbit of Pallas is much greater than that of Ceres, consequently, Pallas may come so near to the sun at its perihelion, as to cross the orbit of Ceres.
The small size of the asteroids constitutes one of their most remarkable peculiarities. The difficulty of estimating the apparent diameter of bodies at once so very small and so far off, would lead us to expect different results in the actual estimates. Accordingly, while Dr. Herschel estimates the diameter of Pallas at only eighty miles, Schroeter places it as high as two thousand miles, or about the diameter of the moon. The volume of Vesta is estimated at only one fifteen thousandth part of the earth's, and her surface is only about equal to that of the kingdom of Spain.
These little bodies are surrounded by atmospheres of great extent, some of which are uncommonly luminous, and others appear to consist of nebulous matter, like that of comets. These planets shine with a more vivid light than might be expected, from their great distance and diminutive size; but a good telescope is essential for obtaining a distinct view of their phenomena.
Although the great chasm which occurs between Mars and Jupiter,—a chasm of more than three hundred millions of miles,—suggested long ago the idea of other planetary bodies occupying that part of the solar system, yet the discovery of the asteroids does not entirely satisfy expectation since they are bodies so dissimilar to the other members of the series in size, in appearance, and in the form and inclinations of their orbits. Hence, Dr. Olbers, the discoverer of three of these bodies, held that they were fragments of a single large planet, which once occupied that place in the system, and which exploded in different directions by some internal violence. Of the fragments thus projected into space, some would be propelled in such directions and with such velocities, as, under the force of projection and that of the solar attraction would make them revolve in regular orbits around the sun. Others would be so projected among the other bodies in the system, as to be thrown in very irregular orbits, apparently wandering lawless through the skies. The larger fragments would receive the least impetus from the explosive force, and would therefore circulate in an orbit deviating less than any other of the fragments from the original path of the large planet; while the lesser fragments, being thrown off with greater velocity, would revolve in orbits more eccentric, and more inclined to the ecliptic.
Dr. Brewster, editor of the 'Edinburgh Encyclopedia,' and the well-known author of various philosophical works, espoused this hypothesis with much zeal; and, after summing up the evidence in favor of it, he remarks as follows: "These singular resemblances in the motions of the greater fragments, and in those of the lesser fragments, and the striking coincidences between theory and observation in the eccentricity of their orbits, in their inclination to the ecliptic, in the position of their nodes, and in the places of their perihelia, are phenomena which could not possibly result from chance, and which concur to prove, with an evidence amounting almost to demonstration, that the four new planets have diverged from one common node, and have therefore composed a single planet."
The same distinguished writer supposes that some of the smallest fragments might even have come within reach of the earth's attraction, and by the combined effects of their projectile forces and the attraction of the earth, be made to revolve around this body as the larger fragments are carried around the sun; and that these are in fact the bodies which afford those meteoric stones which are occasionally precipitated to the earth. It is now a well-ascertained fact, a fact which has been many times verified in our own country, that large meteors, in the shape of fire-balls, traversing the atmosphere, sometimes project to the earth masses of stony or ferruginous matter. Such were the meteoric stones which fell at Weston, in Connecticut, in 1807, of which a full and interesting account was published, after a minute examination of the facts, by Professors Silliman and Kingsley, of Yale College. Various accounts of similar occurrences may be found in different volumes of the American Journal of Science. It is for the production of these wonderful phenomena that Dr. Brewster supposes the explosion of the planet, which, according to Dr. Olbers, produced the asteroids, accounts. Others, however, as Sir John Herschel, have been disposed to ascribe very little weight to the doctrine of Olbers.