The Discovery Of Uranus Research Paper

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

He read and mastered a number of books on astronomy, and as any good scientist, he began to observe and categorize many different objects in the heavens. Then, on the night of 13 March 1781, Herschel made an interesting discovery, “he noticed a large object that he thought was a nebula or a comet. Four nights later he noticed that this object had moved, and so he concluded it was in fact a comet.”

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

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

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

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

William Herschel was a builder of telescopes. He made them better and sold them for profit. However, his motivation for making better telescopes was not profit, it was to answer his questions about space. When he looked into space through a telescope he could see that there was more that he wanted to see. It all started when he noticed a spot on Orion’s sword. William spent a lot of time improving telescopes so that he could see deeper into space. William Herschel discovered what we now know as the planet Uranus. He originally thought it was a comet. His quest to learn more about space lead him to make improvements on telescopes. He relied on the knowledge of others to help him do this. His brother often helped him with the mechanical

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.

There wasn’t so much a motivation for a specific discovery when Herschel discovered Uranus. It seems like most inventions and discoveries it was on accident. Herschel was actually an organist and conductor but this musician also had a hobby. He made his own telescopes and would search the stars in his free time. Herschel discovered Uranus on March 13, 1781. According to Smith it was the, “first planet to be discovered in recorded history.” That must have made a big impact in the astronomical community. It was interesting to note that others had seen the planet but had not recognized it as a planet. Herschel originally named in Georgium Sidus named after George the lll. According to Steinicke Herschel had

William Herschel had a telescope and he loved searching the universe anything. He also had a sister that also searched the galaxies and enjoyed gazing into the night sky with a new perspective. On the night of Tuesday March 13, 1781 Herschel saw Uranus for the first time, even though he didn’t know it, yet. According to the article “Managing Expectations” written by Krupp he informs us that the first-time William saw Uranus he actually thought it was a comet. “Uranus was the first new planet to be found since antiquity, but at the outset it was not at all clear that a new world had been spotten. Herschel’s telescope provided the world’s best view of the new object, but even Herschel thought he had discovered a comet. (Krupp)” Herschel had to

Uranus is a very peculiar planet. While planets like Mercury, Jupiter, and Earth and all the other planets in the solar system have some slight differences in orbits (like Venus rotating clockwise), all of the planets, except for Uranus, rotate at under a 30-degree tilt. The Earth has a 23-degree tilt, Jupiter has a 3-degree tilt, and Saturn and Neptune are both at 29-degrees. Uranus has a 98-degree tilt.

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.

He was different than most astronomers in his time because rather than charting the positions of stars or planets, he was collecting double stars and nebulae.

Galileo was first to have the use of a telescope to observe celestial bodies, which helped him greatly in making new discoveries. He was able to not only study the motion of other planets, but was able to observe the satellites orbiting those planets. Galileo also discovered an enormous amount of stars by observing the Milky Way giving way to theorizing that there is more to our universe then what was previously thought. Galileo later found himself in trouble with the Catholic Church for publicly announcing his findings, which went against the Church’s held beliefs of the Earth’s place in our universe. Sadly, Galileo had to essentially denounce his findings and was forced to keep his discoveries private for the rest of his days.

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.