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Science
Related: About this forumWHO DISCOVERED URANUS?
Article Updated: 16 Apr , 2017
by Matt Williams
Uranus as seen by NASA's Voyager 2. Credit: NASA/JPL
If youve got really good eyesight and can find a place where the light pollution is non-existent, you might be able to see Uranus without a telescope. Its only possible with the right conditions, and if you know exactly where to look. And for thousands of years, scholars and astronomers were doing just that. But given that it was just a tiny pinprick of light, they believed Uranus was a star.
It was not until the late 18th century that the first recorded observation that recognized Uranus as being a planet took place. This occurred on March 13th, 1781, when British astronomer Sir William Herschel observed the planet using a telescope of his own creation. From this point onwards, Uranus would be recognized as the seventh planet and the third gas giant of the Solar System.
Observations pre-18th Century:
The first recorded instance of Uranus being spotted in the night sky is believed to date back to Classical Antiquity. During the 2nd century BCE, Hipparchos the Greek astronomer, mathematician and founder of trigonometry apparently recorded the planet as a star in his star catalogue (completed in 129 BCE).
William Herschels telescope, through which the planet Uranus was first observed.
Credit: Wikipedia Commons
This catalog was later incorporated into Ptolemys Almagest, which became the definitive source for Islamic astronomers and for scholars in Medieval Europe for over one-thousand years. During the 17th and 18th centuries, multiple recorded sightings were made by astronomers who also catalogued it as being a star.
More:
https://www.universetoday.com/18886/discovery-of-uranus/
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WHO DISCOVERED URANUS? (Original Post)
Judi Lynn
Apr 2017
OP
I wonder (as I did when I was about 12)...was Sir William Herschel....when he named..
JoeOtterbein
Apr 2017
#1
Nope. Herschel tried to name it - Georgium Sidus, after King George the Third!
Princess Turandot
Apr 2017
#2
JoeOtterbein
(7,697 posts)1. I wonder (as I did when I was about 12)...was Sir William Herschel....when he named..
...the planet (if he did?)...was he trolling us? BTW, Thanks for the post Judi!
Princess Turandot
(4,784 posts)2. Nope. Herschel tried to name it - Georgium Sidus, after King George the Third!
Now that would have been trolling, retrospectively!
There's a long discussion about this in Wikipedia. The debate went on for awhile, with various astronomers calling it different names. They settled on Uranus, who was the primordial god of the sky in Greek mythology, and the father of Cronus (whose equivalent is called 'Saturn' in the Roman version). Since Saturn was the father of Jupiter (in Greek, Zeus), they eventually decided that naming the next planet over from Saturn after *his* father made sense.
Uranium was also named after Uranus.
doc03
(35,145 posts)3. Now that's a nice anus nt
Javaman
(62,439 posts)4. my proctologist. nt
Orsino
(37,428 posts)5. He who smelt it. n/t