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Mar 15, 2021 · Learn how the German-born astronomer William Herschel identified the seventh planet in the solar system and named it after King George III. Find out how Voyager 2 and Hubble Space Telescope revealed more about Uranus' rings, moons, and atmosphere.
William Herschel first observed Uranus on 13 March 1781, leading to its discovery as a planet, expanding the known boundaries of the Solar System for the first time in history and making Uranus the first planet classified as such with the aid of a telescope.
In his later career, Herschel discovered two moons of Saturn, Mimas [72] and Enceladus; [73] as well as two moons of Uranus, Titania and Oberon. [85] He did not give these moons their names; they were named by his son John in 1847 and 1852, respectively, after his death.
Learn how William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781, using a homemade telescope in his back garden. Find out how he and Nevil Maskelyne, the Astronomer Royal, named and confirmed the new planet.
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William Herschel (born November 15, 1738, Hannover, Hanover—died August 25, 1822, Slough, Buckinghamshire, England) German-born British astronomer, the founder of sidereal astronomy for the systematic observation of the stars and nebulae beyond the solar system. He discovered the planet Uranus, hypothesized that nebulae are composed of stars, and d...
Herschel’s father was an army musician. Following the same profession, the boy played in the band of the Hanoverian Guards. After the French occupation of Hanover in 1757, he escaped to England, where at first he earned a living by copying music. But he steadily improved his position by becoming a music teacher, performer, and composer, until in 1766 he was appointed organist of a fashionable chapel in Bath, the well-known spa. By this time, the intellectual curiosity he had acquired from his father led him from the practice to the theory of music, which he studied in Robert Smith’s Harmonics. From this book he turned to Smith’s A Compleat System of Opticks, which introduced him to the techniques of telescope construction and whetted his appetite for viewing the night sky.
Combining obstinacy with boundless energy, William was not content to observe the nearby Sun, Moon, and planets, as did nearly all astronomers of his day, but was determined to study the distant celestial bodies as well, and he realized he would need telescopes with large mirrors to collect enough light—larger, in fact, than opticians could supply at reasonable cost. He was soon forced to grind his own mirrors. They were ground from metal disks of copper, tin, and antimony in various proportions. In 1781 his ambitions outran the capacities of the local foundries, and so he prepared to cast molten metal into disks in the basement of his own home, but the first mirror cracked on cooling, and on the second attempt the metal ran out onto the flagstones, after which even he accepted temporary defeat. His later and more successful attempts produced ever larger mirrors of superb quality, and his telescopes proved far superior even to those used at the Greenwich Observatory. He also made his own eyepieces, the strongest with a magnifying power of 5,787 times (when used with a telescope with a 7-foot [2.1-metre] focal length).
At Bath, he was helped in his researches by his brother Alexander, who had come from Hanover, and his sister, Caroline, who was his faithful assistant through much of his career. News of this extraordinary household began to spread in scientific circles. He made two preliminary telescopic surveys of the heavens. Then, in 1781, during his third and most complete survey of the night sky, William came upon an object that he realized was not an ordinary star.
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It proved to be the planet Uranus, the first planet to be discovered since prehistoric times. William became famous almost overnight. His friend Dr. William Watson, Jr., introduced him to the Royal Society of London, which awarded him the Copley Medal for the discovery of Uranus, and elected him a Fellow. Watson also helped him to secure in 1782 an annual pension of £200 from George III. He could thus give up music and devote himself exclusively to astronomy. At this time William was appointed as an astronomer to George III, and the Herschels moved to Datchet, near Windsor Castle.
William Herschel was a German-born British astronomer who discovered the planet Uranus in 1781. He also studied the nature of nebulae and developed a theory of stellar evolution.
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Learn how William Herschel, a musician and astronomer, discovered Uranus in 1781 using his own reflecting telescope. Find out how he named the planet after King George III and how his sister Caroline also contributed to his work.
Feb 9, 2010 · Learn how the German-born English astronomer William Herschel made the first modern discovery of a new planet in 1781 using a telescope. Find out why he named it Georgium Sidus and how it was later renamed Uranus.
