244 years of the discovery of the planet Jorge, then Uranus

This astronomical feat dating from 1781 was possible thanks to the 152 millimeter reflector telescope that the German-British astronomer William Herschel had just built.

• MIRA: Heavenly show: The seven planets of the Solar System are aligned at sunset

He had signed it to the constellation of Gemini and had observed a star that was not supposed to be there. To the power of his instrument, he seemed to possess a planetary album, which made him think first that it would be a kite. It shone with a yellow color and moved slowly.

Looking at him night after night, Herschel concluded that he had discovered the seventh planet of the Solar System. He asked other astronomers to confirm their diagnosis, and they all agreed with him: there was a new planet located twice the distance of Saturn.

Tribute to King Jorge III of England

Herschel baptized the planet with the curious name of Georgium Sidus (“Planet Jorge”), in a strange tribute to King Jorge III of England who had just lost part of his possessions in North America for US independence of 1776.

The “Planet Jorge” continued to be called until well into the nineteenth century, despite the opposition of astronomer Johann Elert Bode, who insisted that Herschel had to continue with the mythological tradition. If the names of the adjacent planets were Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, the newcomer should be baptized Uranus.

Bode justified his point of view in which the genealogical sequence should be continued: grandson, father, grandfather. The great -grandfather (Saturn’s father) was Uranus, who properly personified the starry sky.

It is curious that Bode insisted so much on changing Uranus’s name to one contemplated in the conventions, since he used to baptize his discoveries with much more extravagant names than “Jorge.” Thus, he called certain constellations “the cat”, “the chemical apparatus”, “aerostatic globe” and “typographic office.” The extreme case occurred by baptizing a constellation Bode with the name of “The Honors of Federico” in honor of the King of Prussia.

The French astronomer Lalande proposed, on the other hand, to baptize the planet as “Herschel”, although the idea that endured was that of Bode.

Although it is said that in 1827 the name of Uranus was already very usual in England, until 1850 the British nautical almanac continued to call the planet “Jorge” in his astronomical ephemeris. Finally, astronomer John Couch Adams managed to convince the editors of the Almanac to change it by the current name, Wikipedia reports.

Uranus was visited in 1986 by NASA Voyager 2 nave. Its average distance from the sun is 19.19 astronomical units, orbit the sun every 84.01 years and has a rotation priod of 17.24 hours. Its diameter is 51,118 kilometers-four times that of Earth-and has more than 20 satellites observed.