For hundreds of years, telescopes have allowed us to map the stars and study the great mysteries of the cosmos. Astronomers knew there were other planets in our solar system even before telescopes, but their invention allowed us to discover a particular neighbor for the very first time in 1781.
Most Planets Have No Known Date of First Observation
Before we begin, I want you to imagine a clear night sky you’ve witnessed before. You probably saw many gorgeous stars, but not every distant light up there actually is a star. Some of those lights are planets, perfectly visible to the naked eye. We’ve been able to clearly see Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars with the naked eye since the dawn of humanity, even if it’s hard to differentiate them from all of those stars up there.
Because of this, there is no specific date of first observation for these five planets. Whoever first saw them existed long before recorded history, and plenty of people acknowledged that they existed before telescopes were invented, even if they couldn’t be studied more closely until afterward. We have written records that demonstrate humanity was aware of these planets as early as 1500 BC, and that they were different from regular stars.
Now, let’s talk about the other, more distant planets: Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (fight me, NASA!). Technically, you can see Uranus (and maybe, theoretically, Neptune) with the naked eye under ideal circumstances. But they are so distant and so faint that, prior to the invention of telescopes, it was impossible to determine what they were.
So, while Uranus was the first planet to be “discovered” via telescope in the sense that it was the first “distant light” to be confirmed as a planet with a telescope. The light of Uranus could be seen before telescopes existed, but no one knew for certain that it was a planet.
William Herschel Discovered Uranus in 1781
Frederick William Herschel was a British astronomer born in Germany circa 1738. Though telescopes were invented in 1608, Herschel constructed a large one of his own in 1774, and he used it for nine years to survey the sky and study double stars. He wasn’t specifically looking for planets, instead charting celestial objects in various nebulae. He was observing the constellation Gemini in 1781 when he noticed a new, unidentified object.
It took several weeks and a lot of discussion with other astronomers, but that object was eventually determined to be a new planet, and it was dubbed Uranus. This was a big deal because Uranus was the first planet in our solar system to be discovered since ancient times, so the discovery catapulted William Herschel’s fame almost overnight.
Herschel was appointed Court Astronomer by King George III of Great Britain, elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and even received financial grants to develop new telescopes. Though the discovery of Uranus was Herschel’s most noteworthy scientific achievement, he accomplished many other great things as well, including the discovery of two of Uranus’s moons, Oberon and Titania. He also discovered infrared radiation.
Why Do You Need a Telescope to See Uranus?
Strictly speaking, you don’t need a telescope to see Uranus. Under incredibly favorable circumstances, it’s technically possible to see it with the naked eye. That said, Uranus is nearly two billion miles away from Earth, and its even greater distance from the Sun means it doesn’t get much light to reflect back at us. To top it all off, Uranus is a bluish-green color, which doesn’t stand out against the sky as much as something like red or orange.
The ideal time to try and spot Uranus is usually from November through December, though you would need incredibly low levels of light pollution. That said, while this is theoretically possible, you’re very unlikely to see Uranus without the aid of a telescope. On the other hand, if you have a halfway-decent telescope or even a good pair of binoculars, seeing Uranus and even further planets like Neptune is fairly easy.
Just don’t expect to see the types of amazing views that you get from NASA photographs. After all, such incredible views require things like the Hubble Space Telescope or a specialized probe heading towards the outer solar system. Still, you can definitely see Uranus with a consumer-level telescope that won’t break the bank, even if the view won’t be as mind-blowing as you’d likely want.
Uranus is a mysterious planet with many fascinating features, some of which are completely unique to it as a member of our solar system, despite its superficial similarity to Neptune. With the aid of a sufficient telescope, you may be able to identify and appreciate some of those amazing features personally, so long as you have a keen eye and maybe a bit of help from a stargazing app.
