I chose to research the discovery of Uranus by William Hershcel. William Herschel was born in German on August 25, 1822. He immigrated to England in 1759. In England he was given a small telescope. This gift led him to his life’s obsession. He became a telescope maker and amateur astronomer. Herschel spent time observing the night sky with his telescope. In March of 1781 he was looking for double stars. Double stars are two stars close together, because of how they are situated, they look like a single star unless they are seen under magnification. During his investigation he noticed a “fuzzy disk”. Herschel was known as a careful and obsessive man. He initially thought the “fuzzy disk” was a comet. Herschel questioned
Tycho began to gain fame as an astronomer after reporting on a “new star” in 1572. Tycho saw a very bright star in Cassiopeia on November 11th, 1572. He fixed its position with regards to the other stars in the constellation, and continued to observe it. It began to fade in brightness early the next year, and was only as bright as Polaris within six months. He also reported on the color changes, from brilliant white to yellow to red and back to red within that same six months (Hall 274). These careful observations helped springboard his career as an astronomer, and he published his findings on “De Nova Stella” or “the New Star” in 1574.
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.
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
In March of 1781 William Herschel, a musician and amateur astronomer discovered what would eventually be called “Uranus.” He discovered what he initially thought was a comet, while looking for what he called double stars. He ended up finding Uranus as it passed by one of the stars he was looking at. He recorded is in a journal, and after a few days looked for it again. He was able to see that it was moving and that it appeared to have an orbit. He contacted some friends of his that were astronomers and gave them the work that had done and wanted to them to explore it further than he could. They ended up finding the same thing and also classifying it as a comet, probably a comet called 1770, and congratulating him on his discovery. It wasn’t
The discovery of the Neptune planet was the result of various hypotheses, generated by different astronomers and mathematicians from 1781 to 1847. The article entitled “Accounting for Anomaly: The Discovery of Neptune” describes how Neptune was mathematically identified, before being directly observed, using the calculations of Urbain Le Verrier. He made the hypothesis that the Newtonian gravitation law could not fully explain the series of irregularities in the path of the Uranus planet. Le Verrier suggested the existence of another planet, after Uranus, that could affect its gravity. In 1845 his hypothesis followed a series of calculations to determine the nature and position of this unknown planet. By this calculations Le Verrier’s understood
The discovery of Uranus by William Herschel in 1781 was a surprise to the professional astronomers of the day. William was an amateur astronomer and he made his own telescopes. He was looking at the night sky and he was looking at what others had noted was another star. With his better equipment, he could see that it was not a star but a planet. He wanted to name the planet after King George III of England. It was decided that is was going to be named after the Greek gods. It got the name of Uranus who was the father of Saturn according to mythology. It took a few years for that name to stick but when it did, the rest was history. William did get a paid as a professional astronomer after his discovery. That is good advice for all of us: Do
William Herschel was a musician and an astronomer. The motivation that drove William Herschel to the discovery of Uranus was his obsession with astronomy and the heavens. He charted the stars with a telescope he built himself, he then discovered a “comet” which really was the planet Uranus, but he initially didn’t realize it. He noticed the “comet” had moved and decided that his annotations on the position of the “comet” had been written down incorrectly. Herschel wanted to know the dimensions, and position of the “comet”. He carefully measured the location and diameter of the comet for some time and discovered its journey as parallax to “our side of the sun” on a daily basis. In 1782 Herschel finally called the comet his planet. The knowledge
After Brahe’s death, Johannes Kepler continued his observations. (Tycho Brahe Biography 1). Brahe’s observations of a Supernova and planetary motions led to a new way of thinking for the Europeans because it led to a new creation of accurate instruments, factual theories and started the
In particular by the Harvard University-based Harlow Shapley. Despite the people saying no Hubble, had his findings published in The New York Times on November 23, 1924.
Uranus was the very first planet to be discovered since the beginning of recorded history. William Herschel was a man of music, but he was also very interested in astronomy and often studied books about it. His love for astronomy is what ultimately led him to the discovery of the planet.
The moons we know today were also discovered by Herschel: Titania and Oberon. After two years, in 1789 William also finished his largest telescope, 48 inches. This telescope made another Saturn’s sixth and sevenths moon; Enceladus and Mimas. Now moving on from the telescope, William tried out a basic experiment determining the temperature of different colors passing through a prism. He began to notice light that was beyond the color red. Higher then light and the visible spectrum. Using measurements and prior knowledge the light he was seeing is what we know today, Infrared radiation. The European Space Agency infrared space observatory was subsequently named for him.
William Herschel was an astronomer and telescope maker. It was through one of his telescopes, in March of 1781, that he discovered Uranus. Initially he believed, as other astronomers of his day, that Uranus was a comet. As he continued to observe the planet over the next four days he came to the conclusion that the planet did not have the same motion as a comet. After months of observation, he was able to chart its orbital path which would double the size of the known solar system at that time. Because of William Herschel’s discovery he opened up the heavens with his proof that there was much more to our solar system than was believed at that time. William Herschel discovered more that Uranus, he gave shape to the Milky Way, he discovered
Frederick William Herschel was a British astronomer and composer. In 1774 he constructed his first telescope with which he spent the next 9 years studying the sky. After the completion of several catalogues, on March 13, 1781, he made an amazing discovery. The planet Uranus. This was an extraordinary discovery, and because of it, Herschel was made Court Astronomer by King George the Third, which was indeed a great honor. Later on he became the first President of the Royal Astronomer Society, in 1820. One of the key people leading to his Astronomy breakthroughs was Reverend John Michell, who was making ground-breaking views on astronomy and the construction of telescopes. Michell and Herschel met, as Herschel was a composer, and Michell was
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
The planet Uranus was discovered in March of 1781 by William Herschel. This event was very significant in the life of Herschel, considering he was only an amatuer astronomer at the time of its discovery. The discovery led to Herschel receiving royal patronage, £200 as pension per year, and substantial support for his further exploration of space. Herschel’s motivation to find Uranus was simply his fascination for astronomy. He was intrigued by the workings of light and the eye when looking through telescopes, and his continuous searchings of the heavens eventually led to his discovery. Though he persisted that the discovery of Uranus was not due to chance, many skeptics have stated that the discovery did not have a rhyme or reason to it, and