Even before the described events, he had found a general way to calculate the orbits of only three observed positions in the sky. There was no application for the new method found by Gauss, and the discovery of the new luminaire presented the first and perfect case.
Gauss immediately began to calculate and in November published the elements of the planet's orbit, as well as its position in the sky in the future — where the planet should have been visible from the Earth.
It was already September 1801, when Piazzi's sunshine had to come out of the sunlight again and become available for observation ... if it could be found. Alas, the impatience of the observers, who were eager to use Gauss' help as soon as possible, was further tested. Rain, snow, fog and clouds seemed to have conspired to hinder the search for the lost luminaire, and only on the last night of the same 1801 did the sky clear.
Not being embarrassed by the arrival of a cheerful New Year's Eve and the freezing cold, Tzach rushed in search of a “hot trail”, and the following night, the anniversary of the discovery of Piazzi, the fugitive was discovered. Her movement among the stars in two days gave her “red-handed”, the next night she was also found by Olbers.
Gauss' calculations showed that Piazzi had discovered not a comet, but a planet that turned near the Sun just between Mars and Jupiter. Who else but Piazzi had the first word in the question of how to name the newly discovered member of the family of planets? Piazzi wanted to call her Ceres, the patron goddess of the island of Sicily at the time of the Romans. With this Piazzi paid tribute to the area in which he successfully conducted his scientific work, and at the same time “withstood the style”, as he took the name of the planet from the same group of gods of Roman mythology, from which in ancient times the names of other planets were drawn.
The story with the name Ceres is one of the examples of a possible answer to the question, which is sometimes asked by naive people. “We suppose that it is possible to measure and know the sizes, distance and temperature of heavenly bodies, but how, tell, how have learned names of heavenly luminaries? They were recognized in the same way that parents would know their children's names...
The discovery of the eighth planet has led to a number of other discoveries, and these days, as we shall see, we almost regret that these discoveries are so many.
Ceresera was a subject of constant attention, and, observing its way, astronomers have studied well the location of weak stars in the vicinity of this way. On March 28, 1802, not far from the place where Ceres was visible among the stars, Olbers noticed a new star and after two hours he was convinced of its movement in relation to its neighbors.
The case smelled like the discovery of another planet, and Gauss again showed that this is indeed the case. Astounding is that the orbit of the second, weakly luminous planet was very close to the orbit of Ceres. Instead of one “missing” planet between Mars and Jupiter, there were two: “there was no penny, but suddenly the altar. The second planet was called Pallada (the epithet of Athens — the goddess of war, victory, wisdom and science in the Greeks).
In previous times, there were few observatories and few people engaged exclusively in astronomical research. Their work was poorly paid.
Approximately half of the outstanding scientists of the XVII and XVIII centuries were engaged in science in the hours of leisure, extracted from other activities, somehow providing them with life.
Even more scientists at the beginning of their activity were engaged in foreign affairs at the capitalist system, before they managed to devote themselves entirely to science.
So, for example, the famous astronomer Bessel began his career as an office clerk, Lassel, who discovered Neptune's companion, was a brewer, among the researchers of comets Swift was a tinsmith, Tempel — lithographer; One researcher of the planets Schroeter was a judge's official, Herschel began his work as a musician, Schwabe, who discovered the periodicity of sunspots, was a pharmacist, Hall, who discovered the satellites of Mars, came out of the carpenters, a researcher of small planets Olbers was a practitioner.
Sleeping away from sleep, Olbers observed comets and became an authority on the study of their orbits. As early as 1779, while on duty at the bedside of a sick comrade, like him, a medical student, he came up with an important simplification in the calculation of these orbits. Scientists sometimes think of happy thoughts unexpectedly, even in the most inopportune atmosphere — in the tram, in the intermission of the concert and even in the store.
Absorbed by his work, the scientist is constantly trying to snatch every minute to think, and to his happy thought on duty, Olbers came, of course, not by chance, but in the end long dumas in previous months. The question: how did you come up with this? — In most cases, the most correct and shortest answer would be: I was thinking about it all the time.
The new way has made the work of the comet orbital calculators easier and faster.
To be continued in the next part https://zen.yandex.ru/media/id/5d92f1673d873600b11d9f29/nature-does-not-tolerate-emptiness-a-little-bit-about-asteroids-part-3-5d94417cf73d9d00ad0e8410