of worlds. Doctrines which but the span of two human
lives before would have brought their enunciators
to the stake were now pronounced not impious,
but sublime.


ASTEROIDS AND SATELLITES

The first day of the nineteenth century was fittingly
signalized by the discovery of a new world. On the
evening of January 1, 1801, an Italian astronomer,
Piazzi, observed an apparent star of about the eighth
magnitude (hence, of course, quite invisible to the unaided
eye), which later on was seen to have moved,
and was thus shown to be vastly nearer the earth than
any true star. He at first supposed, as Herschel had
done when he first saw Uranus, that the unfamiliar
body was a comet; but later observation proved it a
tiny planet, occupying a position in space between
Mars and Jupiter. It was christened Ceres, after the
tutelary goddess of Sicily.

Though unpremeditated, this discovery was not unexpected,
for astronomers had long surmised the existence
of a planet in the wide gap between Mars and Jupiter.
Indeed, they were even preparing to make concerted
search for it, despite the protests of philosophers,
who argued that the planets could not possibly exceed
the magic number seven, when Piazzi forestalled their
efforts. But a surprise came with the sequel; for the