Uranus is the first planet that was not known to ancient astronomers and was not discovered until more than 180 years after Galileo first turned his telescope to the sky and discovered the Galilean satellites. Uranus is bright enough to have been seen by Galileo with his telescope, but if he had seen it (and there is evidence that he might have), he would have only assumed it was a star as his telescope did not have enough resolution to see Uranus as a disk rather than a pinpoint of light. Also, that pinpoint of light would not have moved fast enough to distinguish itself as a planet or some other object rather than a star.
In 1690, John Flamsteed actually saw Uranus with his telescope. But much like Galileo, he did not see it moving fast enough that in the six times that he observed it, he thought it was a star in Taurus and even labeled it as 34 Tauri. The 34 means that to him, Uranus was the 34th star discovered in Taurus. Since he did not observe it long enough, he was not able to see it moving faster compared to the actual stars in Taurus.
Pierre Lemonnier also spotted Uranus between 1750 and 1769. However, he also was not able to distinguish it as a planet as he did not see it moving among the stars.
Finally, in 1781, William Herschel made careful observations of Uranus and was able to tell that it moved faster than the farther stars. Not only that, his telescope had good enough resolution to see Uranus was a fuzzy disk rather than a pinpoint like a star would appear in a telescope. By watching Uranus over time, he was able to tell whether or not it was a comet or a planet. A comet would have been moving much faster than a planet as a comet would start to come in towards the inner solar system, but Uranus did not. By following the trajectory of Uranus, he was able to determine how far away it was.
Herschel wanted to name the planet after the King George III of his adopted country, England. But the name was argued back and forth, British astronomers decided to name it Uranus, who was Zeus' grandfather in Greek mythology. It became the first planet, other than Earth, not be named after a Roman god.
Uranus Discover, the seventh planet from the Sun in our solar system, is a unique and enigmatic world. Discovered in 1781 by the German-born British astronomer Sir William Herschel, it stands out for several reasons. Firstly, its axial tilt is nearly perpendicular, causing it to rotate on its side, resulting in extreme seasons and peculiar ring and moon configurations.
ReplyDelete