Bode

John Elert, German astronomer, born 1747, died 1826. His best works are his Astronomical Almanac and his large Celestial Atlas (Him mels atlas), giving a catalogue of 17,- 240 stars (12,000 more than in any former chart).—Bode’s Law is the name given to an arithmetical formula, previously made known by Kepler and Titius of Wittenberg, expre ing approximately the distances of the planets from the sun. It a umes the series 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 96, etc., each term after the second being double the preceeding term; to each term 4 is added, producing the series 4, 7, 10, 14, 28, 56, 100, ete. These numbers are, with the exception of 28, roughly proportional to the distances between the planets and the sun. The Jaw has ne theoretical foundation.