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Uranus is visible to the naked eye, but it is very dim and was not classified as a planet until 1781, when it was first observed by William Herschel. About seven decades after its discovery, consensus was reached that the planet be named after the Greek god Uranus (Ouranos), one of the Greek primordial deities.
The outer retrograde moons are all named after characters from one play, The Tempest; the sole known outer prograde moon, Margaret, is named from Much Ado About Nothing. [ 19 ] Some asteroids , also named after the same Shakespearean characters, share names with moons of Uranus: 171 Ophelia , 218 Bianca , 593 Titania , 666 Desdemona , 763 ...
Finally, the name Uranus became accepted in the mid-19th century, as suggested by astronomer Johann Bode as the logical addition to the existing planets' names, since Mars (Ares in Greek), Venus (Aphrodite in Greek), and Mercury (Hermes in Greek) were the children of Jupiter, Jupiter (Zeus in Greek) the son of Saturn, and Saturn (Cronus in ...
A year after Hershel's discovery, writes Popular Science, German astronomer Johann Bode suggested the winning name: Uranus, the Latin word for the Greek god of the sky: Ouranos (Ew-rah-nose ...
The names of all four satellites of Uranus then known were suggested by John Herschel in 1852 at the request of Lassell, [18] though it is uncertain if Herschel devised the names, or if Lassell did so and then sought Herschel's permission. [19] Ariel is named after the leading sylph in The Rape of the Lock. [20]
All of Uranus's moons are named after characters created by William Shakespeare or Alexander Pope. The name Titania was taken from the Queen of the Fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream . [ 15 ] The names of all four satellites of Uranus then known were suggested by Herschel's son John in 1852, at the request of William Lassell , [ 16 ] who had ...
Subsequent discoverers of Saturnian moons followed Herschel's scheme: Hyperion was discovered soon after in 1848, and the ninth moon, Phoebe, was named by its discoverer in 1899 soon after its discovery; they were named for a Titan and a Titaness respectively. The name of Janus was suggested by its discoverer, Audouin Dollfus.
NASA’s Voyager 2 flyby in 1986 provided the only close-up look at Uranus. Nearly 40 years later, scientists are looking back at this data and finding out the visit happened during a strange ...