A Planet Called George

• A new planet discovered in the 18th century

The planet George, or Georgium Sidus, was discovered in 1781 by astronomer William Herschel using his 152-mm reflecting telescope (Europa Press, 2020). This planet has 27 moons and 13 rings, and is four times the size of Earth. Also, like Venus, it rotates from east to west and, unlike the other planets, its equator is tilted approximately 98° (Turismo de Estrellas, 2019).

Before street lighting, it was much easier to see the night sky, and some objects such as planets could even be seen with the naked eye. The planet George was not as bright as the other planets known at that time. Although it had previously been observed by astronomers such as John Flamsteed, this object was mistaken for a star (NASA Science, 2006).

The planet George takes its name from King George III of Great Britain, although other scientists, such as Johann Bode, preferred it to be named after the god Uranus, following the same tradition as the other planets already discovered, such as Jupiter and Saturn (Parra, 2013).

William Herschel Lemuel Francis Abbott / Public domain	William Herschel's 40-foot telescope Unknown author / Public domain
George III of the United Kingdom Thomas Gainsborough / Public domain	Uranus NASA/JPL / Public domain

References

Europa Press. (2020). Hace 239 años William Herschel descubrió el planeta Jorge, hoy Urano. https://www.europapress.es/ciencia/astronomia/noticia-hace-239-anos-william-herschel-descubrio-planeta-jorge-hoy-urano-20200313111510.html

NASA Science. (2006). Venus Meets a Planet Named George. https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2006/11apr_george/

Turismo de Estrellas. (2019). 10 datos curiosos que debe saber sobre el planeta Urano. https://turismodeestrellas.com/10-datos-curiosos-que-debe-saber-sobre-el-planeta-urano

Parra, S. (2013). El planeta que se llamó Jorge durante 40 años. In Xataka Ciencia. https://www.xatakaciencia.com/astronomia/el-planeta-que-se-llamo-jorge-durante-40-anos

How to cite this article

Nocetti, F.A. (2020). "A planet called George". In NabbuBlog. Retrieved from http://nabbublog.blogspot.com/2020/07/a-planet-called-george.html