Emily Chan
On March 13, 1781, the seventh planet in our solar system, Uranus, was discovered completely by accident.
An amateur British-German astronomer named William Herschel had been looking through his telescope when he spotted the planet.
Herschel developed an interest in astronomy at the age of 34. Before that, he was a successful composer and musician.
Back then, the range of telescopes was rather limited. On that night, Herschel had been using a homemade device of his own design.
He noticed a faint object in the sky shaped like a flat disk that moved in front of the fixed stars. At first, he thought it was a comet, but its movements appeared to be too slow.
After further observations, he realized it was a new planet. It was the first planet to be discovered with a telescope.
The planet had actually been observed as far back as 1690, but ancient astronomers just weren’t aware of what they were looking at.
Since Herschel was the one who made the discovery and saw its true significance, he decided to name the planet.
He proposed the name “Georgium Sidis” in honor of King George III, but his peers disagreed. Instead, they opted for “Uranus,” in keeping with the established protocol of naming planets after ancient gods.
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