page_title: William Herschel
section_title: Astronomy
hierarchical_section_title: William Herschel / Astronomy
caption_attribution_description: English: Model of Telescope with which William Herschel discovered Uranus. In the Herschel Museum of Astronomy in Bath. The secret of Herschel's success as an observer was the power and magnification of his telescopes. This seven foot long, six inch diameter, ƒ14 reflector was particularly favoured. Its main mirror at the bottom of the tube and the secondary mirror near the top in front of the ocular were made of speculum metal. It was with a seven foot telescope that Herschel made the discovery of the planet Uranus in 1781
context_page_description: Sir Frederick William Herschel FRS was a German-British astronomer, the greatest observational astronomer of the day. He is best known for discovering Uranus in 1781. He also discovered infrared radiation, binary stars, and published important catalogues of stars and nebulae. Herschel built many telescopes, including the largest in the world at that time.
  Herschel was also a musician in his younger days. He played the cello, oboe, harpsichord and organ. He composed numerous musical works, including 24 symphonies and many concertos, as well as some church music.
context_section_description: Herschel's music led him to an interest in mathematics and lenses. His interest in astronomy grew stronger after 1773 and he made the acquaintance of the English Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne. He started building his own reflecting telescopes and would spend up to 16 hours a day grinding and polishing the metal primary mirrors.
caption: Replica of the telescope with which Herschel discovered Uranus in the William Herschel Museum, Bath
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