[footnote] * (Since the publication of Baron Humboldt's work in 1845,
several other planets have been discovered, making the number of those
belonging to our planetary system 'sixteen' instead of 'eleven'. Of these,
Astrea, Hebe, Flora, and Iris are members of the remarkable group of
asteroids between Mars and Jupiter. Astrea and Hebe were discovered by
Hencke at Driesen, the one in 1846 and the other in 1847; Flora and Iris
were both discovered in 1847 by Mr. Hind, at the South Villa Observatory,
Regent's Park. It would appear from the latest determinations of their
elements, that the small planets have the following order with respect to
mean distance from the Sun: Flora, Iris, Vesta, Hebe, Astrea, Juno, Ceres,
Pallas. Of these, Flora has the shortest period (about 3 1/4 years). The
planet Neptune, which, after having been predicted by several astronomers,
was actually observed on the 25th of September, 1846, is situated on the
confines of our planetary system beyond Uranus. The discovery of this
planet is not only highly interesting from the importance attached to it as
a question of science, but also from the evidence it affords of the care and
unremitting labor evinced by modern astronomers in the investigation and
comparison of the older calculations, and the ingenious application of the
results thus obtained to the observation of new facts.
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