Good morning, Whitewater.
Friday will be mostly sunny with a high of sixty-two. Sunrise is 7:08 and sunset is 6:59, for 11h 50m 18s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 53% of its visible disk illuminated.
Uranus in 2005. Rings, southern collar and a bright cloud in the northern hemisphere are visible (HST ACS image) Via Wikipedia.
On this day in 1781, William Herschel announces the discovery of a planet:
Sir Frederick William Herschel,[1] KH, FRS (German: Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel; 15 November 1738 – 25 August 1822) was a German-born British astronomer, composer, and brother of Caroline Herschel. Born in the Electorate of Hanover, Herschel followed his father into the Military Band of Hanover, before migrating to Great Britain at the age of nineteen.
Herschel became interested in astronomy in 1773, and after constructing his first large telescope in 1774, he spent nine years carrying out thorough sky surveys, where his purpose was the investigation of double stars. The resolving power of the Herschel telescopes revealed that the nebulae in the Messier catalogue were clusters of stars: catalogues of nebulae were published in 1802 (2,500 objects) and 1820 (5,000 objects). In the course of an observation on 13 March 1781 he realized that one celestial body he had observed was not a star, but a planet, Uranus. This was the first planet to be discovered since antiquity and Herschel became famous overnight. As a result of this discovery George III appointed him ‘Court Astronomer’. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society and grants were provided for the construction of new telescopes.
Herschel pioneered the use of astronomical spectrophotometry as a diagnostic tool, using prisms and temperature measuring equipment to measure the wavelength distribution of stellar spectra. Other work included an improved determination of the rotation period of Mars, the discovery that the Martian polar caps vary seasonally, the discovery of Titania and Oberon (moons of Uranus) and Enceladus and Mimas (moons of Saturn). In addition, he was the first person to discover the existence of infrared radiation. Herschel was knighted in 1816. He died in August 1822, and his work was continued by his only son, John Herschel….
In March 1781, during his search for double stars, Herschel noticed an object appearing as a nonstellar disk.[11] Herschel originally thought it was a comet or a star. He made many more observations of it, and afterwards Russian Academician Anders Lexell computed the orbit and found it to be probably planetary.[12] Herschel determined in agreement that it must be a planet beyond the orbit of Saturn.[13] He called the new planet the ‘Georgian star’ (Georgium sidus) after King George III, which also brought him favour; the name did not stick. In France, where reference to the British king was to be avoided if possible, the planet was known as ‘Herschel’ until the name ‘Uranus’ was universally adopted. The same year, Herschel was awarded the Copley Medal and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1782, he was appointed “The King’s Astronomer” (not to be confused with the Astronomer Royal). He and his sister subsequently moved to Datchet (then in Buckinghamshire but now in Berkshire) on 1 August 1782. He continued his work as a telescope maker and achieved an international reputation for their manufacture, profitably selling over 60 completed reflectors to British and Continental astronomers.[14]
Here’s the final game in Puzzability‘s Miss Taken series:
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This Week’s Game — March 9-13
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Miss Taken
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Who are all the missing misses? For each day this week, we started with a name or word that can follow “Miss,” like “Congeniality” or “Hannigan.” Then we hid it in a sentence, with spaces added as necessary. The answer spans at least two words in the sentence and starts and ends in the middle of words. The day’s clue gives the sentence with a girl in place of the answer.
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Example:
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I think the creator of this strawberry rhubarb pie reci
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Answer:
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Peach (recipe achieved)
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What to Submit:
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Submit the name or word (as “Peach” in the example) for your answer.
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Friday, March 13
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