El método de análisis y síntesis y el descubrimiento de Neptuno = The method of analysis and synthesis and the discovery of Neptune

The discovery of Neptune was one of the greatest achievements of nineteenth-century astronomy. Using nothing but calculus and some observations of Uranus’ anomalous motion, Adams and Le Verrier got to determine, independently, the possible place and mass of a hypothetical planet, which would produce its observational discovery. In this paper, I will demonstrate that the methods used by these astronomers were influenced by Newton’s method of analysis and synthesis. Considering this, I will also expose, that some general epistemological principles of astronomy could be deduced when we consider these investigation methods