Astronomy: Discovery of Uranus by William Herschel in 1781
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.
After Herschel’s discovery of Uranus he received grants that
Sir William Herschel accomplished a lot for astronomy. In 1781 he was able to discover Uranus with his own homemade telescope. With the help of his sister, he was also able to discover over 2,500 celestial bodies that are still being used today. It was the first planet discovered that could not be seen with the naked eye. Herschel wanted to name it after the king, but other astronomers did not agree. So they named it
Herschel just happened to be studying the stars between 10-11pm. What he did not expect was to find a planet on that fateful night. Herschel thought that what he had spotted was a big star, but then decided that it was a comet. However, he quickly realized that this was no star, it was much more! In this situation, technology made all the difference. Without these high-powered magnifiers, it would have been easily forgotten. Once he formed a hypothesis, how tried to figure out what the planet was not. It was much larger than the other planets. Once he realized that this was an actual planet, he wrote a letter to his colleague about it. This was an exciting discovery for 1787! It was the first planet to be discovered in a more modern
Galileo(1564-1642) Made the telescope better and he used the telescope to observe planets, and he proves kepler’s theory, saw the imperfection of planets, and saw a storm on a planet also saw craters.
One of the most important discoveries for astronomy has to be the invention of the telescope. The telescope was invented by Hans Lippershey in 1608 in the Holland. The design of the telescope consisted of multiple concave lenses that were placed into a tube that allowed distant figures to appear closer. The
“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.
William Herschel didn’t start out his life and career interested in space and the stars. He started as a music teacher and musician. He was in his 30s before he started asking questions and looking at the stars. I think Herschel’s motivation came from wanting to learn more about the world around him and reading. While Herschel was still a musician, he read “Opticks by Robert Smith”1. In the books last few chapters, Smith talked about “Telescopial
His sister was a huge part to the discovery she was a guide in a way. William Herschel was a musician for the army he became an amazing musician who learned the organ and wanted to learn music theory which then lead his to the telescope. He created his own mirrors after trial and error he was able to come up with one that was strong enough to see even farther into space. He asked questions about theory and music which lead to the mechanics of a telescope which then lead to more questions on how much light he could get in the scope. He was able to make mirrors big enough to get enough light to see even deeper into space. He notified one of his friends what he discovered and he pretty much helped him get famous by introducing him to a lot of
The discovery of Uranus is quite interesting. William Herschel discovered Uranus one day while he was admiring the stars in the sky in 1781. He noticed that one of these stars happened to be quite different than the other ones. He began is research there. His motivation came from the difference in the star from the other ones. Plus, he had built his telescope himself and I am sure he needed many reasons to use it!
William Herschel is remembered as a great musician and astronomer of the late 1700’s. He is especially known for his discovery of Uranus in 1781. But with such limited technology, how was he able to make such a discovery? Well Herschel was a builder and seller of telescopes. Building off on Newton’s discovery that in a telescope “different colours, as they [pass] through the objective lens at the upper end of the tube, [are] bent (‘refracted’) by slightly different amounts and… [come] to a focus at slightly different distances from the objective” (Hoskin) creating an unclear, and distorted image. Herschel was able to fix this problem and create a telescope that would create a perfectly clear image. His solution was to “replace the lens [with]
Pluto was discovered, by astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh, on 18 February 1930. This period in astronomy was of intense planet hunting.
This famous scientist was born December of 1571. He was introduced to astronomy at a very young age. He was able to observe the Great Comet of 1577 at age six. He studied at the university of tübingen to become a Lutheran minister. While he was there he also studied the works of Nicolaus Copernicus, who said that the planets orbited around the sun and not the earth even though he had no evidence. Kepler did a lot of research about the planetary motion. He contacted an astronomer, Tycho Brahe, in search for notes or details that could help him with his research. Brahe invited Johannes to work with him. However, Brahe didn't want to share his notes with Kepler. When Brahe died Kepler kept his notes and observations.
William Herschel was the man that discovered the planet Uranus in 1781. The events that led up to his great discovery is he was using a telescope to find as many double stars, stars that appear close to each other, as he could. During this search he noticed what he thought was a comet or a very small star. A few nights later he was again working trying to find double stars and returned to where he had seen the mysterious comet or star. A day later he invited a couple of other people over to show them the new comet that he had discovered. He then took his findings and published his findings. Other scientists joined in and helped him to get more information on it like measurements of it and the distance it was from things and the distance it
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.
He continued to do research in understanding the motion of falling objects. He was also very interested in the physics behind the pendulum. Once Hans Lippershey invented the telescope he began studying and eventually improving upon the design. Though he is often falsely credited with creating the telescope, he was the first person to use the telescope.
In 1609, Galileo Galilei, using “spyglass” which allowed one to see things closer than they appeared, made an early version of the telescope. With it, he observed the skies in a way no one had before. He discovered the moon isn’t perfectly globular, it has craters, the Sun has sunspots, Venus orbits the Sun (contrary to widespread belief in his time), and then he observed four “stars” around Jupiter (“Our Solar System”). Within