Astronomy

Uranus

Uranus was the first planet discovered in contemporary times. It was discovered in 1781 by William Herschel while he was searching the sky with his telescope. It had actually been seen many times before but ignored as simply being another star. "In the beginning Herschel named it "the Georgium Sidus" (the Georgian Planet) in honor King George III of England. Others called it "Herschel." The name "Uranus" was first proposed by Bode in conformity with the other planetary names from classical mythology but didn't come into common use until 1850" (Uranus, 2011).

The only spacecraft to ever visit Uranus was Voyager 2 in 1986. Uranus is different in that most of the planets spin on an axis almost perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic but Uranus' axis is almost parallel to the ecliptic. At the time of Voyager 2's passage, Uranus' South Pole was pointed almost directly...
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