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This day in History:

Uranus, the first planet discovered in modern times, was discovered by William Herschel while systematically searching the sky with his telescope on March 13, 1781. It had actually been seen many times before but ignored as simply another star (the earliest recorded sighting was in 1690 when John Flamsteed cataloged it as 34 Tauri). Herschel named it "the Georgium Sidus" (the Georgian Planet) in honor of his patron, the infamous (to Americans) King George III of England, while English astronomers suggested calling it Herschel. They were overruled by European astronomers who proposed that the old mythological system should be followed. The name "Uranus" was first proposed by German astronomer Bode in conformity with the other planetary names from classical mythology but didn't come into common use until 1850.

Nine Planets