March 13, 2023 • 9 mins
On this day in 1781, German-born British astronomer William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show that charts the far reaches of history one day
at a time. I'm Gabelusier, and in this episode we're
talking about how the seventh planet from the Sun was
(00:23):
discovered completely by accident. Oh and if I pronounced the
name of the planet differently than you'd expect, We'll get
to why that is a little later. The day was
March thirteenth, seventeen eighty one. German born British astronomer William
(00:45):
Herschel discovered the planet Uranus. Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel was born
on November fifteenth, seventeen thirty eight in Hanover, Germany. He
came from a musical family, and both he and his
brother Jacob followed in their father's footsteps as oboists. In addition,
Wilhelm also played the violin, the harpsichord, and later the organ.
(01:09):
He composed many musical works himself, and in his twenties
he performed in orchestras and as a solo organist throughout England.
In seventeen sixty six, William Herschel, now going by the
English version, of his name took a job as the
permanent organist of the Octagon Chapel in Bath, England. However,
(01:30):
music was in his only passion. Herschel was also a
self taught astronomer, and in seventeen sixty seven he began
observing the night sky with small telescopes and his spare time. Unfortunately,
the instruments he used were poorly suited for even his
amateur purposes. They were uncomfortable to look through, and the
(01:51):
images they showed often appeared blurry and small. Larger, more
powerful telescopes weren't available at the time, so in seventeen
seventy three Herschel began to build his own. He took
lessons from a local mirror maker and spent up to
sixteen hours a day grinding and polishing the metal mirrors
that would gather the necessary light for his telescope. He
(02:14):
also consulted his sister and fellow astronomer, Caroline, on his designs,
as well as his older brother Alexander, who was a
skilled mechanical craftsman. He also consulted his sister and fellow astronomer,
Carolyn on his designs, as well as his other brother Alexander,
who was a skilled mechanical craftsman. With their help, Herschel
(02:35):
was able to build telescopes that allowed him to look
farther into space than anyone had before him. He still
kept up with his musical duties, but it's safe to
say that astronomy became his primary passion from then on.
He kept a journal of his early observational work, much
of which focused on the search for double stars, which
(02:56):
are pairs of stars that appear very close together when
viewed through a telescope. In March of seventeen eighty one,
Herschel's hunt for double stars led him to conduct a
special kind of survey. He began observing and measuring all
the stars that were too faint to be seen by
the naked eye. That's when he noticed a dim moving
(03:16):
object that seemed to pass in front of the fixed stars.
At first, Herschel thought it was a comet, but after
reporting the sighting, he and his peers crunched some numbers
and realized the object in question was following a planetary orbit.
What Herschel had actually found was a planet beyond the
orbit of Saturn, the first new planet ever discovered by
(03:39):
a scientist. Mercury Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and of course
Earth were all known to the ancients, as they were
all observable without the need of a telescope. Uranus is
visible to the naked eye as well, and had actually
been observed as far back as sixteen ninety. However, because
(03:59):
the planet is so dim and because its orbit is
so slow, astronomers had always mistaken it for a star.
Herschel was the first to pay the object any real attention,
eventually logging enough observations of its movement to determine its
true nature nearly two hundred and fifty years later. The
closest that humans have ever come to Uranus was in
(04:22):
nineteen eighty six, when the Voyager two unmanned probe pass
within fifty thousand miles of the planet's cloud toop During
that fly by, the probe gathered thousands of images and
tons of data on the planet and its moons. As
a result, we know a lot more about Uranus than
just its orbit and its blue green color. For instance,
(04:44):
we now know the planet is a dual giant. Like
its bigger brothers Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus is a gas
giant with an atmosphere composed mostly of hydrogen, helium, and methane.
Unlike those other planets, though, Uranus is also considered d
an ice giant, since at least eighty percent of its
mass is a fluid mix of water, methane, and ammonia ice.
(05:07):
Another feature that distinguishes Uranus from the other planets in
our Solar system is its peculiar orientation. It's the only
one that's tilted so far that it basically orbits the
Sun on its side. This extreme tilt is thought to
have been caused by some kind of collision, or possibly
a series of collisions, shortly after the planet was formed.
(05:29):
The tilt doesn't just make Urinus spin funny, either, It
also gives the planet extreme seasons that last for a
little over twenty earth years, including an especially dark and
frigid winter. And speaking of cold, Uranus actually has the
coldest atmosphere in our Solar system. That's because the only
heat it gets is from the distant Sun, as Uranus
(05:52):
doesn't have a molten core to generate its internal heat.
Chilly or not, the discovery of Uranus was a well
olcom feather in England's cap, helping to soften the blow
of its recent loss in the American Revolutionary War. King
George the Third was so pleased with Herschel's discovery that
he granted him knighthood and then appointed him as the
(06:13):
court astronomer. It was a cushy position, and the pension
it came with allowed Herschel to quit his day job
as a musician and focus on his research full time.
By the time of his death in eighteen twenty two,
William Herschel had discovered eight hundred double or multiple star systems,
as well as the first two of Uranus's twenty seven
(06:34):
known moons, and several moons around the other gas giants.
He also compiled a catalog of twenty five hundred celestial
objects that still used in the field today. But okay,
now that we've talked about the planet's discovery and some
of its key properties, let's address the elephant in the room,
the name. When it came time to choose one, Herschel
(06:57):
tried to score Brownie points by suggesting it be named
an or of his patron, King George the Third. That
would have made the planet Georgium Sidis George's star, or
the Georgian planet. As you might imagine, though, that idea
wasn't very popular outside of England. Other suggestions included Minerva,
the Roman goddess of wisdom, Hypercronius, which means above Saturn,
(07:22):
a reference to the planet's position, and Herschel after its discoverer.
In the end, though, it was German astronomer John Bode
who gave the planet its eventual name. It was a
fitting outcome since Bode's observations had helped confirm that the
mystery object was indeed a planet. His reasoning for the
(07:42):
name was pretty sound too. Bode argued that they should
continue the trend of naming planets after the lineage of
the gods of ancient mythology. The fifth planet from the
Sun had been named after Jupiter, the king of the
Roman gods. Likewise, the sixth planet from the Sun had
been named after Saturn, the father of Jupiter. It seemed
(08:03):
only fitting then that the seventh planet from the Sun
should be named after the father of Saturn. That's ultimately
what happened, But in a strange twist, Bode chose not
to use the name of the Roman god as had
been done with the other planets, so instead of calling
the planet Kalus, he named it after the Greek counterpart Uranus,
(08:24):
the primeval god of the sky. By eighteen fifty, the
name had been adapted to Uranus, a name that most
people wind up pronouncing as Uranus, much to the delight
of school children and many adults. The name is especially
funny when you consider the planet's status as a gas giant,
but according to NASSA, most scientists pronounce it as Uranus.
(08:47):
That is closer to the ancient Greek pronunciation of the
planet's namesake. But since you rarely hear it outside of
academic settings, and because it isn't nearly as funny, most
people still cling the Uranus so to speak. Sorry, couldn't
help it. I'm gay, Bluesier and hopefully you now know
a little more about history today than you did yesterday.
(09:11):
If you enjoyed today's show, consider keeping up with us
on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can find us at
TDI HC Show, and if you have any comments or suggestions,
feel free to pass them along by writing to this
Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks as always to Chandler
May's for producing the show, and thanks to you for listening.
(09:31):
I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day
in History. Class
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show that charts the far reaches of history one day
at a time. I'm Gabelusier, and in this episode we're
talking about how the seventh planet from the Sun was
(00:23):
discovered completely by accident. Oh and if I pronounced the
name of the planet differently than you'd expect, We'll get
to why that is a little later. The day was
March thirteenth, seventeen eighty one. German born British astronomer William
(00:45):
Herschel discovered the planet Uranus. Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel was born
on November fifteenth, seventeen thirty eight in Hanover, Germany. He
came from a musical family, and both he and his
brother Jacob followed in their father's footsteps as oboists. In addition,
Wilhelm also played the violin, the harpsichord, and later the organ.
(01:09):
He composed many musical works himself, and in his twenties
he performed in orchestras and as a solo organist throughout England.
In seventeen sixty six, William Herschel, now going by the
English version, of his name took a job as the
permanent organist of the Octagon Chapel in Bath, England. However,
(01:30):
music was in his only passion. Herschel was also a
self taught astronomer, and in seventeen sixty seven he began
observing the night sky with small telescopes and his spare time. Unfortunately,
the instruments he used were poorly suited for even his
amateur purposes. They were uncomfortable to look through, and the
(01:51):
images they showed often appeared blurry and small. Larger, more
powerful telescopes weren't available at the time, so in seventeen
seventy three Herschel began to build his own. He took
lessons from a local mirror maker and spent up to
sixteen hours a day grinding and polishing the metal mirrors
that would gather the necessary light for his telescope. He
(02:14):
also consulted his sister and fellow astronomer, Caroline, on his designs,
as well as his older brother Alexander, who was a
skilled mechanical craftsman. He also consulted his sister and fellow astronomer,
Carolyn on his designs, as well as his other brother Alexander,
who was a skilled mechanical craftsman. With their help, Herschel
(02:35):
was able to build telescopes that allowed him to look
farther into space than anyone had before him. He still
kept up with his musical duties, but it's safe to
say that astronomy became his primary passion from then on.
He kept a journal of his early observational work, much
of which focused on the search for double stars, which
(02:56):
are pairs of stars that appear very close together when
viewed through a telescope. In March of seventeen eighty one,
Herschel's hunt for double stars led him to conduct a
special kind of survey. He began observing and measuring all
the stars that were too faint to be seen by
the naked eye. That's when he noticed a dim moving
(03:16):
object that seemed to pass in front of the fixed stars.
At first, Herschel thought it was a comet, but after
reporting the sighting, he and his peers crunched some numbers
and realized the object in question was following a planetary orbit.
What Herschel had actually found was a planet beyond the
orbit of Saturn, the first new planet ever discovered by
(03:39):
a scientist. Mercury Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and of course
Earth were all known to the ancients, as they were
all observable without the need of a telescope. Uranus is
visible to the naked eye as well, and had actually
been observed as far back as sixteen ninety. However, because
(03:59):
the planet is so dim and because its orbit is
so slow, astronomers had always mistaken it for a star.
Herschel was the first to pay the object any real attention,
eventually logging enough observations of its movement to determine its
true nature nearly two hundred and fifty years later. The
closest that humans have ever come to Uranus was in
(04:22):
nineteen eighty six, when the Voyager two unmanned probe pass
within fifty thousand miles of the planet's cloud toop During
that fly by, the probe gathered thousands of images and
tons of data on the planet and its moons. As
a result, we know a lot more about Uranus than
just its orbit and its blue green color. For instance,
(04:44):
we now know the planet is a dual giant. Like
its bigger brothers Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus is a gas
giant with an atmosphere composed mostly of hydrogen, helium, and methane.
Unlike those other planets, though, Uranus is also considered d
an ice giant, since at least eighty percent of its
mass is a fluid mix of water, methane, and ammonia ice.
(05:07):
Another feature that distinguishes Uranus from the other planets in
our Solar system is its peculiar orientation. It's the only
one that's tilted so far that it basically orbits the
Sun on its side. This extreme tilt is thought to
have been caused by some kind of collision, or possibly
a series of collisions, shortly after the planet was formed.
(05:29):
The tilt doesn't just make Urinus spin funny, either, It
also gives the planet extreme seasons that last for a
little over twenty earth years, including an especially dark and
frigid winter. And speaking of cold, Uranus actually has the
coldest atmosphere in our Solar system. That's because the only
heat it gets is from the distant Sun, as Uranus
(05:52):
doesn't have a molten core to generate its internal heat.
Chilly or not, the discovery of Uranus was a well
olcom feather in England's cap, helping to soften the blow
of its recent loss in the American Revolutionary War. King
George the Third was so pleased with Herschel's discovery that
he granted him knighthood and then appointed him as the
(06:13):
court astronomer. It was a cushy position, and the pension
it came with allowed Herschel to quit his day job
as a musician and focus on his research full time.
By the time of his death in eighteen twenty two,
William Herschel had discovered eight hundred double or multiple star systems,
as well as the first two of Uranus's twenty seven
(06:34):
known moons, and several moons around the other gas giants.
He also compiled a catalog of twenty five hundred celestial
objects that still used in the field today. But okay,
now that we've talked about the planet's discovery and some
of its key properties, let's address the elephant in the room,
the name. When it came time to choose one, Herschel
(06:57):
tried to score Brownie points by suggesting it be named
an or of his patron, King George the Third. That
would have made the planet Georgium Sidis George's star, or
the Georgian planet. As you might imagine, though, that idea
wasn't very popular outside of England. Other suggestions included Minerva,
the Roman goddess of wisdom, Hypercronius, which means above Saturn,
(07:22):
a reference to the planet's position, and Herschel after its discoverer.
In the end, though, it was German astronomer John Bode
who gave the planet its eventual name. It was a
fitting outcome since Bode's observations had helped confirm that the
mystery object was indeed a planet. His reasoning for the
(07:42):
name was pretty sound too. Bode argued that they should
continue the trend of naming planets after the lineage of
the gods of ancient mythology. The fifth planet from the
Sun had been named after Jupiter, the king of the
Roman gods. Likewise, the sixth planet from the Sun had
been named after Saturn, the father of Jupiter. It seemed
(08:03):
only fitting then that the seventh planet from the Sun
should be named after the father of Saturn. That's ultimately
what happened, But in a strange twist, Bode chose not
to use the name of the Roman god as had
been done with the other planets, so instead of calling
the planet Kalus, he named it after the Greek counterpart Uranus,
(08:24):
the primeval god of the sky. By eighteen fifty, the
name had been adapted to Uranus, a name that most
people wind up pronouncing as Uranus, much to the delight
of school children and many adults. The name is especially
funny when you consider the planet's status as a gas giant,
but according to NASSA, most scientists pronounce it as Uranus.
(08:47):
That is closer to the ancient Greek pronunciation of the
planet's namesake. But since you rarely hear it outside of
academic settings, and because it isn't nearly as funny, most
people still cling the Uranus so to speak. Sorry, couldn't
help it. I'm gay, Bluesier and hopefully you now know
a little more about history today than you did yesterday.
(09:11):
If you enjoyed today's show, consider keeping up with us
on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can find us at
TDI HC Show, and if you have any comments or suggestions,
feel free to pass them along by writing to this
Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks as always to Chandler
May's for producing the show, and thanks to you for listening.
(09:31):
I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day
in History. Class
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