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William Herschel's Discovery Of Uranus

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In 1789 William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus.[1,2,3,4,5] However, when he first stumbled upon it, he thought it was a comet. Based on what was then known about comets, it was determined that it was too far away from the sun and moving too slow to be a comet. Upon closer investigation, he discovered that it was indeed a planet. Interestingly enough, the only reason he was able to perform deeper investigation was that he was using a telescope.

If you happen to be outside on just the right night, under the right conditions, you can see Uranus with just your eyes. However, while it had been observed for centuries before Herschel came along, it was usually mistaken for a star. The difference was that Herschel was using

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