In Robert Chambers' Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, he writes that earth is "one of a series of eleven which revolve at different distances around the sun, and some of which have satellites in like manner revolving around them." James A. Second says that during this period the notion of a planet included things that today we now distinguish and term asteroids. So, my question is: Chambers seems to think the number eleven is proper and clear enough his readers should recognize it. Secord lists Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus (I presume) as seven among the eleven. What were the other four?
P.S., sorry for any typos, I'm on mobile omw to the HSS conference as we speak!
They were Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta - or as they're known today, Dwarf Planet 1 Ceres and asteroids 2 Pallas, 3 Juno, and 4 Vesta. They were discovered in relatively quick succession between 1801 and 1807; the next object, 5 Astraea, was not discovered until thirty-eight years later, in 1845.
At first, all these new discoveries were accounted planets, but as more and more objects were rapidly discovered it was clear that assigning each new body the 'planet' status would become unworkable. Thus, these objects were dubbed 'asteroids', and designated by a number, indicating the order of discovery, sometimes with a name attached - hence the current day names.
Announcing the discovery of 18 Hygaea, with a description of the history to that point.
