31 Oct
2003
31 Oct
'03
11:37 p.m.
Here's another example of something that was never done, although it could have been. Uranus is visible with the naked eye and therefore could have been discovered to be a planet. In fact it was discovered by Herschel in 1751 who was making a new star catalog and compared his catalog with a previous one prepared by Flamsteed. One star had moved substantially between catalogs and proved to be a planet. Herschel wanted to name it Georgius after the king, but a Greek god was more suitable. He used a telescope, but it wasn't essential, but the cataloging was.