 One of the astronomers selected for the search was Giuseppe Piazzi , a Catholic priest at the Academy of Palermo , Sicily . Before receiving his invitation to join the group , Piazzi discovered Ceres on 1 January 1801 . He was searching for " the 87th [ star ] of the <unk> of the <unk> stars of Mr la <unk> " , but found that " it was preceded by another " . Instead of a star , Piazzi had found a moving star @-@ like object , which he first thought was a comet . Piazzi observed Ceres a total of 24 times , the final time on 11 February 1801 , when illness interrupted his observations . He announced his discovery on 24 January 1801 in letters to only two fellow astronomers , his compatriot <unk> <unk> of Milan and Bode of Berlin . He reported it as a comet but " since its movement is so slow and rather uniform , it has occurred to me several times that it might be something better than a comet " . In April , Piazzi sent his complete observations to <unk> , Bode , and Jérôme Lalande in Paris . The information was published in the September 1801 issue of the <unk> <unk> . 
