Discovery of Uranus
Next: March 13, 2027
A new planet, from a back garden.
The story
Where it comes from
This Story marks the anniversary of 13 March 1781. Slightly before midnight, in his back garden in Bath, the German-born musician and astronomer William Herschel saw a strange object through a telescope he had built himself. He took it for a comet, but when the Astronomer Royal, Nevil Maskelyne, and astronomers across Europe followed it, they found it circled the Sun at about twice the distance of Saturn. It was the first planet discovered since ancient times, and the first ever found with a telescope.
How it's celebrated
There is no formal observance. The Herschel Museum of Astronomy in Bath shows a replica of the telescope he used, and the Royal Society keeps his handwritten account of the night. It is a fine evening to step outside and look up, or to listen to some of Herschel's music, since he earned his living as a musician before the planet made him famous.
Did you know
- Herschel named the planet Georgium Sidus, 'George's Star', after King George III; astronomers abroad preferred Uranus.
- Uranus is the only planet named after a Greek god rather than a Roman one.
- John Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal, had recorded it in 1690 but catalogued it as a star, 34 Tauri.
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