The demotion of Vesta, Juno, Ceres, and Pallas came about after Neptune was discovered, and it became apparent that they were smaller and rather unlike the other eight planets. Also, it is rather odd that Uranus wasn't officially named until about that time, either. It's alternately referred to as "Herschel" or "Neptune" in most of the literature from the early 19th century.
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Date: 2006-08-21 06:02 pm (UTC)