Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 12, 240-248 (2009). 240 HOW THE FIRST DWARF PLANET BECAME THE ASTEROID CERES Clifford J. Cunningham, Brian G. Marsden and Wayne Orchiston Center for Astronomy, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia. E-mails: Clifford.Cunningham@jcu.edu.au Brian.Marsden@jcu.edu.au Wayne.Orchiston@jcu.edu.au Abstract: The discovery on 1 January 1801 of an object between Mars and Jupiter was the most remarkable astronomical discovery since the planet Uranus had been found in 1781. Its discoverer, Giuseppe Piazzi at Palermo Observatory in Sicily, was quick to name it Ceres Ferdinandea. But the discovery was considered so important that it sparked national rivalries. In Germany, the much anticipated planet had been dubbed Hera sixteen years previously, and other Germans quickly gave it their own names. Some leading French astronomers soundly rejected Ceres Ferdinandea, preferring to call it Piazzi, while others in Paris accepted the name Ceres, while at the same time objecting to Ferdinandea. Once another ‘planet’ dubbed Pallas was discovered in 1802, William Herschel realised that astronomers were dealing with a new class of object. He was uncertain what name should be employ- ed however, so he canvassed his friends and colleagues for suggestions. Not content with the often ludicrous ideas put forward, he coined the word asteroid. This paper reveals these dual nomenclature issues through previously- unpublished private letters, an Italian journal, and the much more sedate language used in printed journals. Key words: asteroids, minor planets, planets 1 INTRODUCTION Until 1781 the Solar System, consisting of six planets revolving around a central star, seemed as immutable as the fixed stars themselves. On 13 March in that year William Herschel (Figure 1) discovered a seventh planet. Herschel, himself, was unsure what to call his epochal discovery, but he was quite certain what it should not be called: In the fabulous ages of ancient times the appellations of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn were given to the Planets, as being the names of their principal heroes and divinities. In the present more philosophical era, it would hardly be allowable to have recourse to the same method, and call on Juno, Pallas, Apollo or Minerva, for a name to our new heavenly body. (Herschel, 1783). Figure 1: Sir William Herschel, 1738–1822 (courtesy Wikipedia). The nomenclature issue arose soon after the dis- covery. In a letter written in November 1781, Joseph Banks (Figure 2) urged Herschel in November 1781 to name it quickly, otherwise “… our nimble neighbours, the French, will certainly save us the trouble of bap- tizing it.” It was the German astronomer Johann Bode who dubbed it Uranus, but Herschel gave it the name Georgium Sidus. For many decades it was usually called in England ‘the Georgian planet’ as a tribute to King George III of England. Continental astronomers opted for the classical name, despite Herschel’s opin- ions on the matter. Thus the stage was set for future controversy: should another new planet be named by its discoverer, and what should the astronomical com- munity do if another royal patron is duly honoured? That another planet could be lurking in the Solar System had been the subject of speculation for many years before Herschel’s discovery. Johann Titius first expounded the ‘law’ of planetary distance in 1766, and his text was incorporated into books by Johann Bode (Figure 3) in the 1770s, a publicity coup that has usu- ally given him the credit for the promotion of ‘Bode’s Law’ (see Cunningham, 2001: 19). When the Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi (Figure 4) found a new celestial body on the first day of the nineteenth cen- tury (see Cunningham, 2001; Foderà Serio et al., 2002) it was soon regarded by most astronomers throughout Europe as a new planet, and one that neatly fitted into the predictions of Bode’s Law. The stage had indeed been set, now the curtain was about to rise. 2 THE CONTROVERSY IN GERMANY The name given to the object discovered on 1 January 1801 generated huge controversy in Europe, and the debate raged throughout 1801 and into 1802. On 7 May 1801 Piazzi wrote a letter to Barnaba Oriani in which he stated his intention to name his discovery Cerere Ferdinandea, the Italian version of Ceres Ferdinandea. This was reiterated in his first monograph on the discovery, Results of the Observa- tions of the New Star Discovered the 1 st of January