Editing Uranus (section)

=== {{anchor|34 Tauri}}<!-- Used by an incoming redirect --> Discovery ===
[[File:William_Herschel01.jpg|thumb|upright|[[William Herschel]], discoverer of Uranus]]
Before its recognition as a planet, Uranus had been observed many times, but was generally misidentified as a star. The earliest possible known observation was by [[Hipparchus]], who in 128 BC might have recorded it as a star for his [[star catalogue]] that was later incorporated into [[Ptolemy]]'s ''[[Almagest]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bourtembourg |first=René |date=November 2013 |title=Was Uranus Observed by Hipparchus? |journal=Journal for the History of Astronomy |language=en |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=377–387 |bibcode=2013JHA....44..377B |doi=10.1177/002182861304400401 |issn=0021-8286 |s2cid=122482074}}</ref> The earliest definite sighting was in 1690, when [[John Flamsteed]] observed it at least six times, cataloguing it as 34 [[Taurus (constellation)|Tauri]]. The French astronomer [[Pierre Charles Le Monnier]] observed Uranus at least twelve times between 1750 and 1769,<ref>{{cite web | website=Astronomy Briefly | title=Uranus – About Saying, Finding, and Describing It | publisher=thespaceguy.com | url=http://www.thespaceguy.com/Uranus.htm | last=Dunkerson | first=Duane | access-date=5 May 2021 | archive-date=10 August 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110810072629/http://www.thespaceguy.com/Uranus.htm | url-status=live }}</ref> including on four consecutive nights.

[[William Herschel]] observed Uranus on 13 March 1781 from the garden of his house at 19 New King Street in [[Bath, Somerset]], England (now the [[Herschel Museum of Astronomy]]),<ref>{{cite web |title=Bath Preservation Trust |url=http://www.bath-preservation-trust.org.uk/ |access-date=29 September 2007 |archive-date=29 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180929004747/http://www.bath-preservation-trust.org.uk/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and initially reported it (on 26 April 1781) as a [[comet]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Herschel |first1=W. |last2=Watson |first2=Dr. |date=1781 |title= Account of a Comet|journal= Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London|volume=71 |pages=492–501 |bibcode=1781RSPT...71..492H |doi=10.1098/rstl.1781.0056 |s2cid=186208953}}</ref> With a homemade 6.2-inch reflecting telescope, Herschel "engaged in a series of observations on the [[parallax]] of the fixed stars."<ref name="Ref-1">Journal of the Royal Society and Royal Astronomical Society 1, 30, quoted in [[#Miner|Miner]], p. 8.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Ice Giants: The Discovery of Nepture and Uranus |journal=Sky & Telescope |date=29 July 2020 |url=https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/ice-giants-neptune-and-uranus/ |access-date=21 November 2020 |publisher=American Astronomical Society |archive-date=22 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201122123848/https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/ice-giants-neptune-and-uranus/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Herschel recorded in his journal: "In the quartile near [[Zeta Tauri|ζ Tauri]]&nbsp;... either [a] Nebulous star or perhaps a comet."<ref>Royal Astronomical Society MSS W.2/1.2, 23; quoted in [[#Miner|Miner]] p. 8.</ref> On 17 March he noted: "I looked for the Comet or Nebulous Star and found that it is a Comet, for it has changed its place."<ref>RAS MSS Herschel W.2/1.2, 24, quoted in [[#Miner|Miner]] p. 8.</ref> When he presented his discovery to the [[Royal Society]], he continued to assert that he had found a comet, but also implicitly compared it to a planet:<ref name="Ref-1"/>

{{blockquote|The power I had on when I first saw the comet was 227. From experience I know that the diameters of the fixed stars are not proportionally magnified with higher powers, as planets are; therefore I now put the powers at 460 and 932, and found that the diameter of the comet increased in proportion to the power, as it ought to be, on the supposition of its not being a fixed star, while the diameters of the stars to which I compared it were not increased in the same ratio. Moreover, the comet being magnified much beyond what its light would admit of, appeared hazy and ill-defined with these great powers, while the stars preserved that lustre and distinctness which from many thousand observations I knew they would retain. The sequel has shown that my surmises were well-founded, this proving to be the Comet we have lately observed.<ref name="Ref-1"/>}}

Herschel notified the Astronomer Royal [[Nevil Maskelyne]] of his discovery and received this flummoxed reply from him on 23 April 1781: "I don't know what to call it. It is as likely to be a regular planet moving in an orbit nearly circular to the sun as a Comet moving in a very eccentric ellipsis. I have not yet seen any coma or tail to it."<ref>RAS MSS Herschel W1/13.M, 14 quoted in [[#Miner|Miner]] p. 8.</ref>

Although Herschel continued to describe his new object as a comet, other astronomers had already begun to suspect otherwise. Finnish-Swedish astronomer [[Anders Johan Lexell]], working in Russia, was the first to compute the orbit of the new object.<ref name="lexell" /> Its nearly circular orbit suggested that it was a planet rather than a comet. Berlin astronomer [[Johann Elert Bode]] described Herschel's discovery as "a moving star that can be deemed a hitherto unknown planet-like object circulating beyond the orbit of Saturn".<ref>Johann Elert Bode, Berliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch, p. 210, 1781, quoted in [[#Miner|Miner]], p. 11.</ref> Bode concluded that its near-circular orbit was more like a planet's than a comet's.<ref>[[#Miner|Miner]], p. 11.</ref>

The object was soon accepted as a new planet. By 1783, Herschel acknowledged this to Royal Society president [[Joseph Banks]]: "By the observation of the most eminent Astronomers in Europe it appears that the new star, which I had the honour of pointing out to them in March 1781, is a Primary Planet of our Solar System."<ref name="Dreyer" /> In recognition of his achievement, [[George III of the United Kingdom|King George III]] gave Herschel an annual [[stipend]] of £200 ({{Inflation|UK|200|1783|fmt=eq|r=-3|cursign=£}}){{Inflation/fn|UK}} on condition that he moved to [[Windsor, Berkshire|Windsor]] so that the Royal Family could look through his telescopes.<ref name="Miner12" />