Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1846-11-26
From the n Y Courier and Enquirer.
The Newly Discovered Planet.

I From the n Y Courier and Enquirer.
The Newly Discovered Planet.
Most of The daily papers have recently an
nounced a new member of the Solar System;
but few seem TO be aware Of the really wonder
| ful nature of this discovery. IL has long been
coniecured that there might exist other planets
yet unseen, perhaps beyond The present known
bounds of The solar system; bu, no one ull re-
Gently was able to assign any very good rea-
son for such belief NJ. lie Verrier, French
mathematician, lately demonstrated The exis-
lence of such body, from The motions oil the
planet Uranus. Uranus was frs, discovered TO
be planet in 1881 bu, il had been repeated
! !v observed before by several astronomers, and
mistaken for fixed star Nineteen observa-
tons Of this description are on record, one Of
:hem dating as far back 1000. Twenty five
wears ago, NJ Bouvard of Paris, attempted TO
construct new 'abes for this planet but he
found il impossible 10 unite all the observations
in one elliptic orbit; and in order 10 reconcile
The modern observations, he rejected the an
cienl ones entirely. But even then the planei's
motion could not be correctly represen'edi for
in len wears these tables were found TO be in
error half a minute, aud since then the errors
have increased 10 two minutes of space. As
sronomers have been much puzzled by these
discrepancies. Some conec,ured that at this
! immense distance Of 500 millions of miles
| from the sun, the Newlonan law of graviraton
might no, be strictly true while others ascribed
the effect 10 be attraction of some undiscovered
planet. M. lie Verrier has seued the question.
Sciences on the 81 of August last. he demon
srared that all the observations OF Uranus since
1880 could be perfectly represented by suppo
sing The existence of another planet a, great
distance beyond Uranus and he proceeded to
assign lis precise magnitude and position. lis
distance from the sun va $500 millions of
miles ii made one revolution in 2I7 years, and
is weight was 3s times that of our earth He
assigned lis present position near The star Del
ID Sdpt'CUGHi itc cuDul OUt-tu!iu
tha, of Uranus which would make it a star Of
The eighth magnitude and he concluded that
good telescope must show il with an appreca-
Bile disc. He then wrote 10 Dr. Gale Of Ber-
lin TO look for it in he place be had indicated
Gale fund it the first night. II was a star Of
the eighth magnitude, had an appreciable disc,
and was near the spot which LIE Verrier had
computed This discovery was made on the
23d of September; the plane, was observed at
London on The 3oh, and has since heen seen
a, several places in this country. There is no
doubt that lie Verrier's orbit is a near approxi-
nation 10 the truth. The planets place in The
heavens, lis distance, and its magnitude had
been correctly computed and all from studying
the motions of another body distant from it at
the nearest, about 1900 millions of miles The
annals of science, may be searched in vain for
a discovery equally wonderful When Laplace
computed the figure of the earth from an ana!y-
sis Of the motion of The Moon, it seemed almost
the work OF omniscence: but Lapiace only ar
rived by new method, at a resul, known be-
fore. lie Verrier, by studying the notions of
distant and obscure planet, demon s.ra,ed The
existence of body before unknown; told where
il was; what orbit II was pursul and how
many pounds i, weighed. Tie astronomer had
hut TO point his telescope ond this dis,an, body.
so long buried in the depths of space. and which
had caused him such yetplexi,y, was caught a,
once. The discovery confirms The accuracy of
the Newtonlan law Of gra,ilaliou, and explains
all the anomalies ia the molons of Uranus.
New York University Nov. ,.
T.. LOOMS
Give Him the Bag.