TO KNOW THE STARRY HEAVENS 
Seven then became a sacred number 
representing completeness. It thus be- 
came a fixed idea that there were no 
more planets, and even after the inven- 
tion of the telescope had made visible 
great numbers of stars which were not 
visible before few if any suggested that 
there might be planets which had not 
yet been seen. 
On March 13, 1781, Herschel, while 
examining celestial objects with a 
seven-inch reflecting telescope, noted 
67 
within the lives of persons now living. 
Herschel himself called it “Georgium 
Sidus,” that is, George’s star, in honor 
of King George III. It was known by 
this name, or as “The Georgian,” the 
English equivalent, as late as 1850. 
Others gave it a name harmonizing 
with the names of the other planets and 
called it Uranus, a name now in uni- 
versal use. 
The planet had been seen previously 
by several astronomers, but they had 
MARS 
• 
SATURN 
• 
• 
~Vy VIR.GINIS 
&VIRGINIS • 
• • VEMU5 
JUPITER^ 
Q VIRGIN IS 
Figure 3. The positions of the planets October 25. 
something peculiar about one of the 
stars which he saw. It looked somewhat 
different to him from the ordinary stars. 
It looked a little larger and less bril- 
liant than a star. He turned a higher 
magnifying power on it and watched it. 
After two days he saw that it had 
moved a little. He announced that he 
had discovered a comet. Other astron- 
omers received the information and 
they, too, noted the changes in the 
position of the object. These observa- 
tions showed that the object did not 
move in parabola, or nearly in one, as 
comets do. The object was found to 
be moving in a circular orbit. \ his 
forced the conclusion that the object 
was really another planet. That there 
should be another comet was not sur- 
prising, but that there should be an- 
other planet was a thought entirely 
foreign to the minds of men at the 
time, even to those of astronomers and 
to that of the great astronomical dis- 
coverer, Herschel. The conclusion that 
the object was a planet did not come 
naturally at all. 
Some, thinking to honor the discov- 
erer. called the planet Herschel, a name 
used by some for a long time, even 
not noticed any difference between the 
planet and other stars. It is most re- 
markable that Herschel noticed a dif- 
ference, for astronomers found it diffi- 
cult to see any difference when they 
had had their attention called to it. 
Probably few, if any, other astron- 
omers looking through Herschel’s 
telescope would have noted the pecul- 
iorities which aroused his suspicions 
of an unusual object. 
The planet is now in Aquarius in 
the position marked on Figure i. It 
is just a little too faint to be seen with 
the naked eye. Very little optical as- 
sistance is sufficient to show it. Its 
appearance in a small instrument is like 
that of stars. As it is just east of the 
faint star in Aquarius marked on the 
map, the planet should be easily found. 
There are no stars in the vicinity to 
confuse with it. There is a faint star 
a little southeast of the star on the 
map and quite close to it. A map of the 
fainter stars in this section will be 
printed next month. 
;jc 
The Comet. 
Although it is not now visible here, 
it may interest the readers to know 
