William Herschel Observations

William Herschel was the first to notice this odd object and was curious to find out more. This odd object, Uranus, was the first planet in recorded history to be discovered. The discovery of Uranus was just the beginning of William Herschel’s discoveries. He left his work with music and became

Because he was passionate

Herschel, an amateur astronomer, was not seeking to discover a new planet. Besides general curiosity, his motivations appear to be money, prestige, and power. He was looking for double stars as a way to measure stellar parallax. He had built his own 7ft reflector telescope which he moved to his house in Bath. There he discovered what would later be called Uranus.

He built his first telescope when he was only 20, using mirrors, lenses, and parts of an old Buick car. He used instructions from a 1925 issue of Popular Astronomy. Through the telescope he made observations of Jupiter and Mars. He sent his drawn renditions of Jupiter and Mars to the Lowell Observatory, hoping to get feedback from professional astronomers. Instead, they offered him a job.

The discovery of Uranus was a pretty big achievement for the astronomical world. It showed many that there was the possibility of many other planets existing in our solar system past Saturn. There wasn’t really that much thought put into identifying other planets past Saturn since almost everyone did not think that there would be planets out there. This all changed after William Herschel’s discovery in 1781. While it does mark an important achievement for the astronomical world, I do not think that he was really intending on finding a new planet, since it was generally accepted that there were not more for the past 2,000 years.

William Herschel Discovered Uranus William Herschel was born in 1738 and was known as a musician; he taught, composed, and performed music. However, he became interested in astronomy and began viewing the stars through a telescope that he had borrowed. Later, he began designing his own telescopes which enabled him to view objects at a greater distance. Instead of randomly studying the sky at night, he worked methodically across the entire sky and carefully wrote down his observations.

Galileo heard about a telescope being made and tried it out himself. He created his own telescope and pointed it out into space. There he found that there were four small moons circling around Jupiter, while Jupiter went around the sun (Voelker 17). Since Jupiter revolved around the sun, that meant other planets had to also. “The fact that the moons revolved in the plane of Jupiter rotations implied that the moons were being swept around by a planet-moving force coming from Jupiter” (Voelker 71).

William Herschel found Uranus on March 13, 1781. This was a big deal to him and his career. As stated in a document I found “Uranus was important for Herschel because its discovery was a passport to royal patronage, a pension of 200 pounds per annum, and a substantial support for his investigations of the construction of the sidereal heavens”. Herschel used a telescope which no one found would really work and the thought of one working was unimaginable. Some small ones were in use by scientist but Herschel wanted to develop a more powerful one that everyone would know would work better.

While doing so, he ended up finding a comet-like object that, which he later discovered that it was a planet. This planet became to be known as Uranus. Discovering this wasn 't an easy task, because it required

because he

The Acceptance of the Heliocentric Model Galileo Galilei, an Italian astronomer, and physicist, played a pivotal role in solidifying the acceptance of the heliocentric model. Galileo made significant astronomical observations using the newly invented telescope that supported Copernicus's heliocentric theory. He discovered the phases of Venus, the moons of Jupiter, and the irregularities on the Moon's surface, all of which defied the geocentric model. However, Galileo's advocacy of the heliocentric model brought him into conflict with the Church, and he faced persecution

because he

Nicolaus Copernicus established the concept of a heliocentric system that validates that the sun, rather than the earth, is at the center of our solar system. Later on, he is now known as the “Father of Modern Astronomy”. Early Life On February 19, 1473 in Torun, Poland, Barbara Watzenrode and Nicolaus Copernicus Sr. had their fourth child, Nicolaus Copernicus (Armitage,

This research showed me that many people have been looking at the stars and open space form the beginning. It was interesting that so many years had passed and a music teacher and composer who also made telescopes, and who was an avid amateur astronomer, William Hershel. I thought the process was interesting as he believed he had found a comet. His observations of the motion prompted him to further ponder and seek advice from astronomers. It was suggested this could be a planet.

The Marshmallow Theory Have you ever wondered, “where does willpower come in place for success”? Can a marshmallow and children be the best explanation? According to Walter Mischel, it is completely possible to use 4 year olds with marshmallows to determine what willpower has to do with success. He simply leaves the child alone with one marshmallow for several minutes. If the child waits till he comes back before eating the marshmallow, he gets a second one.