Frederick William Herschel Biography

Birth of Frederick William Herschel

The resolving power of the Herschel telescopes revealed that the nebulae in the Messier catalogue were clusters of stars

Herschel constructs his first large telescope

Herschel is awarded the Copley Medal and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society

Calls the new planet the Georgian star (Georgium sidus) after King George III

Calls the new planet the Georgian star (Georgium sidus) after King George III

Herschel is awarded the Copley Medal and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society

Discovers Uranus using a home made telescope from his back garden in Bath

William Herschel begins a survey program in 1782 using larger telescopes and was able to resolve the stars in all 33 of the known globular clusters. When William Herschel began his comprehensive survey of the sky using large telescopes in 1782 there were 34 known globular clusters. Herschel discovered another 36 himself and was the first to resolve virtually all of them into stars

Appoined King's Astronomer

Appointed "The King's Astronomer"

Herschel observes a faint reddish hue in the core region of Andromeda and believes Andromeda to be the nearest of all the "great nebulae", and based on the color and magnitude of the nebula, incorrectly guesses that it is no more than 2,000 times the distance of Sirius

Produces a diagram of the shape of the Galaxy with the Solar System close to the centre

The first attempt to describe the shape of the Milky Way and the position of the Sun within it is carried out by William Herschel carefully counting the number of stars in different regions of the sky

The Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars was first published in 1786 by William Herschel in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London

Publication of "Catalogue of One Thousand New Nebulae and Clusters of Stars"

The Catalogue of One Thousand New Nebulae and Clusters of Stars is published

Herschel discovers a new moon of Uranus, Oberon

Herschel discovers a new moon of Uranus, Titania

William Herschel marries the widow Mary Pitt (nee Baldwin) at St Laurence's Church

Publication of "Catalogue of a Second Thousand New Nebulae and Clusters of Stars"

Adds another 1,000 entries to The Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars

In Herschels 1789 catalog of deep sky objects, his second such, he became the first to use the name globular cluster as their description. First uses the term "globular cluster" in his Catalogue of a Second Thousand New Nebulae and Clusters of Stars

First uses the term "globular cluster" in his Catalogue of a Second Thousand New Nebulae and Clusters of Stars

Herschel discovers a new moon of Saturn, Enceladus

Herschel discovers a new moon of Saturn, Mimas, only 250 miles in diameter

Herschel discovers infrared radiation in sunlight by passing it through a prism and holding a thermometer just beyond the red end of the visible spectrum

Publication of "Catalogue of 500 New Nebulae"

Adds another 500 entries to The Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, bringing the total to 2,500

Herschel publishes catalogues of nebulae, 2,500 objects

Elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Made a Knight of the Royal Guelphic Order by the Prince Regent entitling him to the prefix Sir

Herschel publishes catalogues of nebulae, 5,000 objects

Appointed the first President of the Royal Astronomical Society when it was founded in 1820

Death of Frederick William Herschel, died in his 84th year, which is the same number of years Uranus takes to orbit the Sun

Herschels house at 19 New King Street in Bath, Somerset where he made many telescopes and first observed Uranus, is now home to the Herschel Museum of Astronomy

Herschel discovered two moons of Saturn, Mimas and Enceladus; as well as two moons of Uranus, Titania and Oberon, he did not give these moons their names; rather, they were named by his son John in 1847 and 1852, respectively, well after his death

Herschel discovered two moons of Saturn, Mimas and Enceladus; as well as two moons of Uranus, Titania and Oberon, he did not give these moons their names; rather, they were named by his son John in 1847 and 1852, respectively, well after his death

Herschel discovered two moons of Saturn, Mimas and Enceladus; as well as two moons of Uranus, Titania and Oberon, he did not give these moons their names; rather, they were named by his son John in 1847 and 1852, respectively, well after his death

Herschel discovered two moons of Saturn, Mimas and Enceladus; as well as two moons of Uranus, Titania and Oberon, he did not give these moons their names; rather, they were named by his son John in 1847 and 1852, respectively, well after his death

The Herschel 400 catalogue is a subset of William Herschel's original Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars

The Herschel 400 catalogue is a subset of William Herschel's original Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars