The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-15
A REMARKABLE NEW PLANET.
A Berlin Astronomer Discovers One
With Strange Orbit.
(London Times.l

OF all the different departments Of
astronomical work, minor planet" dis
covery has seemed by far the least in
teresting and profitable. There seemed
no end to their numbers-more than 1850
have been detected within the last ten
years-they are all too small for any
markings to be observed on their sur
faces or to afford fields for delightful
speculations as to their climates and
inhabitants they are just wandering
boulders, as numerous as the pebbles
on the seashore and with for the most
part scarcely more individuality to re-
pay the astronomer for the toll of
keeping watch on their motions and
of computing their orbits So that it
was with a decided feeling of satisfac-
ton that most astronomers saw the
first half of the present year go by
without a single fresh discovery.
The past two months, however, have
each brought new capture: the first.
discovered by M. Charlois of the Nice
Observatory, on July Is, having no
special claims to attention. But the
second discovered by Herr Witt of the
Uranfal Observatory, Berlin, on Aug.
IA, seems to have so remarkable an
orbit that astronomers will think the
labor spent on the discovery and OBJ
servation of the other 430 or 80 of these
little bodies well bestowed, since it has
led to the discovery of this one.
The chief interest of minor planet
astronomy has lain in the suitability of
some of them for use in the determine
ton OF the fundamental unit of astro-
nomy, the distance of the earth from
the sun. Some of them come suffl-
GENTLY near the earth every now and
then for their distance to be determined
with considerable precision And as
the relative distances of the various
planets can easily be ascertained. to
know the distance accurately of one is
to know the distance of all
But the minor planets" as a body lie
between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars,
ana only one or two ever come nearer
to the sun than the mean distance of
Mars. The new planet, unlike all its
brethren, If the first attempts at the
calculation of its orbit are to be re-
ceived, has its mean distance from the
sun within that of Mars, and, travelling
In a very eccentric orbit, will approach
the earth, when it is at its nearest an
proach to both earth and sun at the
same time, within 100000 miles II
VIII be at such times our nearest neigh
Dor In space after the moon herself
put such close opposition Will only oc-
cur about once in 30 years. The time
OF revolution Of the new planet is Gas
days. o'o
Like the other pocket planets" it Is
OF very small size, say 20 to rs miles in
diameter, but on the occasion of very
close opposition 1t will shine as q siytb
magnitude star. and therefore be yisi-
bic to the naked eye. Even at its most
distant oppositlons it will be of the
eleventh magnitude, five or six times
as bright, that is, as most of the more
recently discovered minor planets. This
fact makes it most remarkable that If
mas not been discovered earlier, and
creates the hope that other bodies
At any rate it will revive the interest
In the search for small celestial wan
derers, of which it is at present bv far
the most useful and interesting.