A Study Of William Herschel's Discovery Of Uranus

Born in Germany as Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel, it wasn’t until his was 30 when he discovered what his true passion was. One night while he was looking at the night sky with his sister Caroline, he discovered Uranus and several of moons around other gas giants. While he was alive, he compiled a catalogue of 2,500 celestial objects that are still being used in today’s society. While in his early life he mainly studied music with his sister. His sister, Caroline was the first women to discover a comet, and the first women to get given a paid scientific position and to receive an honorary membership into the Royal Society. William Herschel will come up with the Theory of The Evolution of The Stars.

Caroline Herschel “was a pioneer of her time! She was an educated woman who would catalogue stars and nebula, and discover comets. She would be the first woman astronomer to earn a salary, acquire honors, and be accepted into scientific organizations” (AmazingSpace). She became an instrumental figure in the study of astronomy. Her work and achievements has broken monumental barriers and has expanded our knowledge of astronomy. Some of her work and documentation is still used today, approximately two hundered years later.

William Herschel was an astronomer who created the first telescope. He spent nine years surveying the sky and investigating double stars. His discoveries motivated him to create bigger and stronger telescopes. In 1779 Herschel set out to survey all of the stars in heaven down to the eighth magnitude. Using his 7 foot telescope he set out to isolate as many double stars as he could. It was during this research in March of 1781 when he realized that one celestial body he had observed was not a star, but a planet, Uranus. This was the first planet to be discovered since antiquity and Herschel became famous overnight.

When William Herschel was young boy he had many interests, and one of them was astronomy. He read many books about it. During the day he would work on his music, and at night, he would build telescopes. Eventually he was building the best telescopes in the world, along with his siblings, which enabled him to see further into space.

This was only the start of this international debate, Le Verrier had contacted the London Guardian, a local news group, about the accusations and stated that, “When he scrupled not to put into print that my calculations were not sufficient to command his confidence, did he not perceive that he was bringing discredit on his own scientific penetration, when he attacked a calculation … Among men of science of different countries, there ought to remain only that friendly rivalry, which, as leading to the benefit of science, so far from hindering, does but cement, the frank and brotherly friendship of those who cultivate it.” (Le Verrier, 1846a). To this, Herschel had responded saying that, “The prize (the discovery of Neptune) was by all rules accredited to Le Verrier since his research was documented and brought to light before Adams discovery”. Almost seeming to assure the people of France that Le Verrier was sure to be given credit to the discovery, however Herschel meant nothing of the sort. He himself wrote directly to the editor of The Guardian stating, “These Frenchmen fly at one like wildcats.” (Herschel, 1846a).

“William Herschel was a man of wide interests outside of music, and astronomy was one of them”. From 1767 forward he began to observe the night-sky, but the telescopes available back then where small with limit potential, so in 1773 he began to develop his own telescopes. With the help of his brother Alexander and sister Caroline, he began to build the best telescopes in the world.

Before the discovery of Uranus there was thought to only be seven heavenly bodies, the Sun, the moon, and five planets. It was common knowledge at the time that they were the only other objects in the Solar System and there would be no others. It changed in 1781 when William Herschel discovered a new object, which later became known as Uranus. (Teerikorni, 111) This all began in 1773 when Herschel started grinding his own lenses and even mounting a mirror with a five and a half foot focal length. He continued in 1776 with larger telescopes. “In July he added a 20ft, and telescopes of 7, 10 and 20 feet becames his common working instruments for some years to come.” (Bennet, 75-76) All of this tinkering eventually led to the discovery of a new

William Herschel’s discovery of Uranus was the first “discovery…to be made in modern times…and also the first to be made by telescope”. While looking through the telescope, William “noticed

William Herschel discovered Uranus in March of 1781. He discovered this threw a telescope. It was the first planet to be discovered using a telescope. Many other scientist that saw this through a telescope thought that Uranus was just a star, but Herschel was able to identify that one of those stars was an actual planet. He was fascinated with the natural philosophy of light and with the behavior of the eyes was the counterpart of this task.

Herschel asked many questions while discovering Uranus. To start, he questioned space in general. He started investigating with his telescope to discover more than just the earth. He also had questions about the comet he discovered.

The topic I chose to write about is Astronomy: Discovery of Uranus by William Herschel in 1781. William Herschel was a German born English astronomer and he was the one who discovered the seventh planet from the sun. This discovery was remarkable because it was the first of its kind to be made in these modern times and the first one to be discovered using modern telescopes. On March 13, 1781, Herschel noticed a small object that, over the course of several nights, was slowly moving across the sky. This is what led him to investigate farther and notice that this wasn’t a comet at all. His curiosity got the better of him and led him to this massive undertaking. This discovery was remarkable because he was appointed by the achieve monarch and

On the night of March 13, 1781, a British astronomer William Herschel was observing the sky. He moved his telescope from one star to another, looking for two stars that were close together that made it seem like one star. That was when he stopped on something unexpected. It was not a point of light, but a fuzzy disk. At first glance he thought it was a comet. He observed it over the next several days and discovered something spectacular.

What was the motivation that led to the discovery? William Herschel was a musician/composer who like to track stars as a hobby. He constructed his own personal telescope and would track the location and movements of the stars around him. In 1781 he saw what he was a comet for multiple nights. He thought it was a comet because it changed its place in the night sky.

I think it was Herschel’s love of astronomy that led him to the decision. It was almost accidental in the sense that he wasn’t trying to discover a planet, instead participating in his favorite hobby. His worked relied on the Russian scientist in

I chose this topic because I have always loved astronomy and looked up in to the night skies. The discovery of planet Uranus was an accident because when William Herschel first saw it, he thought it was a comet. He also believed very strongly in the possibility of extra-terrestrial intelligent life, and he spent many nights with his telescope watching the Moon, Sun, and the planets for signs of it. Prior to his discovery most cultures only had knowledge of the planets we call Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. These five objects were first called planets by the Greeks; planet was the Greek word for wanderer. He wrote of this new finding to astronomers in London but they couldn't see it at first. But eventually the supposed comet was