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Transcriber's Note:

Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible, including non-standard spelling and punctuation. Some apparent typographical errors in the indices and names of asteroids in Tables I and II have been corrected.

[Pg 1]

THE
ASTEROIDS,
OR
MINOR PLANETS
BETWEEN
MARS AND JUPITER.

BY
DANIEL KIRKWOOD, LL.D.,
PROFESSOR EMERITUS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF INDIANA; AUTHOR OF "COMETSAND METEORS," "METEORIC ASTRONOMY," ETC.

PHILADELPHIA:
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.
1888.

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[Pg 3]

PREFACE.

The rapid progress of discovery in the zone of minor planets, theanomalous forms and positions of their orbits, the small size as well asthe great number of these telescopic bodies, and their peculiarrelations to Jupiter, the massive planet next exterior,—all entitlethis part of the system to more particular consideration than it hashitherto received. The following essay is designed, therefore, to supplyan obvious want. Its results are given in some detail up to the date ofpublication. Part I. presents in a popular form the leading historicalfacts as to the discovery of Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Vesta, and Astræa; atabular statement of the dates and places of discovery for the entiregroup; a list of the names of discoverers, with the number of minorplanets detected by each; and a table of the principal elements so faras computed.

In Part II. this descriptive summary is followed by questions relatingto the origin of the cluster; the elimination of members from particularparts; the eccentricities and inclinations of the orbits; and therelation[Pg 4] of the zone to comets of short period. The elements are thosegiven in the Paris Annuaire for 1887, or in recent numbers of theCircular zum Berliner Astronomischen Jahrbuch.

DANIEL KIRKWOOD.

Bloomington, Indiana, November, 1887.

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