Although discovery of the first asteroid was accidental, it came as no surprise to the astronomical community of the day. In 1766, German astronomer Johann Titius (1729-1796) observed that the positions of the planets could be approximated very closely by a simple empirical rule. Adding 4 to each number in the sequence {0, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48…} and dividing the sum by 10 yields the mean planetary distances from the Sun in astronomical units (the distance from the Earth to the Sun is one... więcej

Salem Press Encyclopedia of Science, 2020. 10p.