Discovery of Uranus
William Herschel had a few motivations that led to his discovery of Uranus. However, “[he] spent most nights observing nebulae, looking for double stars, and searching for signs of life on other worlds.” (Ruskin 282) He basically discovered Uranus by accident supposing at first that it was a comet. After sharing his find with other astronomers, they questioned whether it was a comet at all. One astronomer named Nevil Maskelyne “suggested that [it] might be a planet” but it took several months of observations to confirm this truth.
This was a great find of his day because it was the first planet to be discovered that could not be seen with the naked eye. This discovery “opened up a new phase in the discovery of the planets
William Herschel had a few motivations that led to his discovery of Uranus. However, “[he] spent most nights observing nebulae, looking for double stars, and searching for signs of life on other worlds.” (Ruskin 282) He basically discovered Uranus by accident supposing at first that it was a comet. After sharing his find with other astronomers, they questioned whether it was a comet at all. One astronomer named Nevil Maskelyne “suggested that [it] might be a planet” but it took several months of observations to confirm this truth.
This was a great find of his day because it was the first planet to be discovered that could not be seen with the naked eye. This discovery “opened up a new phase in the discovery of the planets