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William Herschel: The Discovery Of Uranus

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The discovery of Uranus was accidental. William Herschel discovered the “star” on Feb 28, 1781, while searching the heavens for double stars to use as a measure for stellar parallax – the effect whereby an object’s position or direction seems to change when it is viewed from different positions. He had moved to another area for a few days, and then returned to view this star again only to find it moved. Questioning what type of star could move he followed it from March 13th through March 18th. At this point, Herschel thought it was a comet based on the general characteristics of comets published to that point. He sent his findings to the Royal Society. Herschel turned his discovery over to the professional astronomers believing he did

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