The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-08-24

Gallileo saw the first satellite of Jupiter,
and a certain Tuscan astronomer wrote as
follows: Those satellites are invisible TO
the naked eye, and, therefore, exercise
no influence on the earth and, therefore,
would be useless, and. therefore, do not
exist Besides, the Jews and other ancient
nations. we'll modern Europeans, have
adopted the division of the week into seven
days. and have named them from the seven
planets; now, if we increase the number
of planets the whole system falls TO the
ground This sapient decision neither dis
credited Gallileo's newly invented telescope
nor stopped the discoveries of the later
centuries.
But even at this early period Kepler-
whose temptation to accept the comets as
living creatures travelling through space
like fishes to the seas is an interesting
reflection of contemporary astronomy-had
noticed curious relation between the posi-
tions of the known planets and the sun
The planets seemed to be arranged in a
mathematicaIy ordered progression. The
order would have been complete if there
had been just one more planet visible in a
certain position between Mars and Jupiter
Kepler suggested. as later proved to be the
invisible. More than a century later the
astronomer Bode enunciated a mathemat-
ical law that reduced the respective dis
tances of the planets to terms of the radius
of the earth's orbit, and this law was con-
firmed by the finding of Uranus in 1771-al-
though it must be added that Neptune, dis
covered in 1916, does not conform to it, But
the space between Mars and Jupiter is still
empty.
HUNTING NEW STARS.
BODIES law, now generally considered SIM
ply an interesting coincidence, led, how
ever, to, perhaps, the most picturesque as
tromical investigation on record. The year
1900 at Lilenthal Germany, the organ
ization of an astronomical society to find
the missing link in the chain of planetary
progression. The Zodiac was divided be-
tween twenty-four astronomers, and twen-
ty-four telescopes. each in its own territory,
were soon searching for the undiscovered
planet. AT that time primary planet had
been discovered within the limits of the
solar system. BODIES law was, and is
wholly empirical, and the prospect of sue
cess was evidently very uncertain nor.
failing of success, did there appear to be
any time limit when the search could be
considered definitely over So far as could
then be judged the descendants of the
twenty-four German astronomers might
still be gazing at their respective claims
and wondering when the hidden gold of the
planet would reward their efforts
Meantime, in Palmero, Sicily, the actual
astronomical Columbus was searching the
sky, not in quest of any particular planet
but general scientific PRINCIPLES. On
Jan. 1. 1901, Prof. Giuseppe Piazzi noticed
what seemed to be a new star of about the
eighth magnitude twinkling between Mars
and Jupiter 1t was not marked on anv
chart of the heavens, and was in fact. not
the burning light of star, but the reflect
ed light of the sun shining from the sur
face of little planet-the first known as
teroid. 1t fulfilled Kepler's prophecy, and
seemed, at first sight, to prove BODIES law
1t was named Ceres Ferdinandea in honor
of the tutelary goddess and of the reigning
King of Sicily-an honor that later astron-
omers have taken from the King and given
wholly TO the goddess-and the first fruit
of its study was the discovery of a second
member of the same family.
In March of the next year Dr. William
Obers, at Bremen, discovered, much to his
surprise, for he was engaged merely in ex-
aiming the relative positions of the stars
near Cerus, the second asteroid, Pallas. In
1904 Juno, the third asteroid, was discov-
cred; in 1907, Vesta; and here for the time
| being, the discoveries rested The four
little planets were believed to have once
| been part of the same mass, and were,
| therefore, taken together as completing the
| law of planetary progression. There was
no further discovery until 1S45. when one
asteroid was added to the list. In 1S47 three
more were discovered. Since that time the
use of photography and the individual eff
| forts of a certain number of 'asteroid
| hunters" has brought the number TO over
five hundred. Seven have been found on a
single Photographic plate taken by the Har-
ward Observatory.
| COSTLY LITTLE STARS
The camera however. and the regular as
| Economical observer differ from the "aster-
old hunter in that they study the heavens
without any desire TO find another of these
| little planets. The hunter takes his tele-
scope and devotes himself 10 a careful ex-
animation of a given portion OF the sky
with the hope of finding an asteroid not
| already known to other astronomers II he
succeeds the new planet is eventually given
| a number in the "Berliner Jahrbuch." and
everything about IL recorded for the benefit
500 a year TO take care OF each asteroid;