Uranus: Facts And History!

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From its discovery in the sky, to the unique tilt that sets it apart, and more! Join me as we show you Uranus Facts and History!
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9. Its Discovery
Before diving into the various facts about Uranus and how it quite possibly became what it is today. We need to first understand how it got discovered, because it's a tale that is rather familiar when it comes to the outer planets.
You see, Uranus had been observed on many occasions before its recognition as a planet, but it was generally mistaken for a star. Many other planets and dwarf planet had similar misidentifications because of their distance from the sun and the Earth and their slow orbits (more on that later).
Possibly the earliest known observation was by Hipparchos, who in 128 BC might have recorded it as a star for his star catalogue that was later incorporated into Ptolemy's Almagest. The earliest definite sighting was in 1690, when John Flamsteed observed it at least six times, cataloguing it as 34 Tauri. The French astronomer Pierre Charles Le Monnier observed Uranus at least twelve times between 1750 and 1769, including on four consecutive nights.
Oh, but it didn't stop there though, far from it. Sir William Herschel observed Uranus on March 13th, 1781 from the garden of his house in Bath, Somerset, England (which is now the Herschel Museum of Astronomy), and initially reported it (in April 1781) as a comet. With a telescope, Herschel "engaged in a series of observations on the parallax of the fixed stars."
This is infinitely ironic because of the fame of Herschel and his discoveries of other major celestial objects in the sky. But most of all, he kept asserting it was a comet to everyone that mattered, although one time he did LIKEN it to a planet.
"The power I had on when I first saw the comet was 227. From experience I know that the diameters of the fixed stars are not proportionally magnified with higher powers, as planets are; therefore I now put the powers at 460 and 932, and found that the diameter of the comet increased in proportion to the power, as it ought to be, on the supposition of its not being a fixed star, while the diameters of the stars to which I compared it were not increased in the same ratio. Moreover, the comet being magnified much beyond what its light would admit of, appeared hazy and ill-defined with these great powers, while the stars preserved that lustre and distinctness which from many thousand observations I knew they would retain. The sequel has shown that my surmises were well-founded, this proving to be the Comet we have lately observed."
Oops. Things only got worse later on.
Herschel notified the Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne of his discovery and received this flummoxed reply from him: "I don't know what to call it. It is as likely to be a regular planet moving in an orbit nearly circular to the sun as a Comet moving in a very eccentric ellipsis. I have not yet seen any coma or tail to it."
Herschel though refused to believe it was anything other than a comet, but other astronomers out there were starting to get wise to the fact that this COULD be something else. Like, you know, a planet?
Finnish-Swedish astronomer Anders Johan Lexell, working in Russia, was the first to compute the orbit of the new object. Its nearly circular orbit led him to a conclusion that it was a planet rather than a comet. Berlin astronomer Johann Elert Bode described Herschel's discovery as "a moving star that can be deemed a hitherto unknown planet-like object circulating beyond the orbit of Saturn". Bode concluded that its near-circular orbit was more like a planet's than a comet's.
The object was soon universally accepted as a new planet, and even Herschel had to admit it after awhile and note to Joseph Banks that he was wrong and that other astronomers had done right by labeling it a planet.
Astronomy wasn't what it is right now back then. Their technologies, mixed with their understanding of the universe, was limited. For them to find Uranus and track its movements in 1781 is astounding. So it's understandable that they could get the classification wrong.
8. Its Name
When you think about the 7th planet from the sun, your eyes and mind no doubt go to its name, Uranus. Which as we'll explain later has become the "but*" of many jokes. But back when the planet was truly found, that wasn't the intention at all.
The name of Uranus references the ancient Greek deity of the sky Uranus, the father of Cronus (Saturn) and grandfather of Zeus (Jupiter).
Consensus on the name was not reached until almost 70 years after the planet's discovery.

Video Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:17 It's Discovery
04:33 It's Name
07:56 Orbits
08:49 Funny Tilt
10:09 Atmosphere
11:12 Pop Culture
12:33 Magnetosphere
13:20 Rings
13:57 Moons

#insanecuriosity #uranus #facts
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Hey Insane Curiosity Squad! If you liked the video, we would love for you to share it with your friends or on other social networks like Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter, etc... (Since the algorithm is not cooperating in showing us to the public 😅). In just 30 seconds, you will greatly help our Channel to grow and improve future contents. A big thank you from all of us.

InsaneCuriosity
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I love this channel!!! Always something interesting!! Thank you!!

amandamarshall
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Thanks for for video! This planet is awesome and beautiful, and I am happy that in my native language it doesn't have any funny connotations.

Creatiff
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Scorpio is water, mother soul, cancer were the negative of all the waters signs, emotional in a betrayal way. Switch portion in the signs happen. The depth of emotional support. ❤

SYAgencies
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Mass Effect reference always makes me laugh: "really, Commander??" 🤣🤣

simateix
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Okay, I'm curious. There are three places in our solar system that humanity is inevitably going to call home within our lifetimes: Earth, Luna, and Mars. When the time comes, are you going to be an Earther, a Martian, or a Lunite?

Earther: 🌍
Martian: 🪐
Lunite: 🌙

ghosthuntergirl
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Watch out for butt jokes in this video Lol 😜

spacepiratejacen
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comment section: you guys know what to do

hongpingmike
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Mass effect references coming right up

DjCrook
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Good information on the planetary system but it's hard to talk about planters, stars, comets, etc when we haven't physically been there. We need super advanced technology, which has been probably hidden, in order to travel the cosmos and study space.

thekingofcontroversytommyc
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No no no. Don’t tell everyone! Stop ruining my privacy! 😩

dr.catherineelizabethhalse
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Uranus doesn't have a big and small dark spot. You are thinking of Neptune. All the other facts were accurate though.

Meoknet
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But despite of my comment, I really like you're channel, always something interesting 😁

coentrov
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Urnas us bigger than neptune wow I LOVE THIS VIDEO♥️

x.bubbles.x
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Chances are there might be some other planets that we are currently thinking of as moons.

DefiantComrade
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Pronouncing it like "urinous" is not much better than "your anus". Miram Webster defines uranous as "of, relating to, like, or having the qualities or odor of urine
."

antonnym
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They always make jokes about Uranus.. is always misunderstood.. in ad astra the main character went from mars to Neptune .. going ahead Jupiter and Saturn but no Uranus.. something that I don't understand..

Goiri
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Ouranos was a titan, not a god but meh. Technicality.

JoeBeaudette
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Man Jokes about Uranus are only in English, in no other language you can do jokes about the rear end because it doesn't have that meaning... Talking about Americans and they're bellybutton lol

coentrov
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I don't care about the uranes jokes. The poster thinks pluto is a planet! As it should be 😁

GmailLeut