The planet Uranus
Presenter(s): Ian Sullivan
Affiliation(s): ASV, MPAS
Session details: Sunday, 2020-04-12 04:30:00, STAR
Abstract
The first planet not easily visible to the naked eye was discovered in 1781 by William Herschel, a German who lived in England and became world famous. He made his own instruments and was granted a pension by King George III. He also discovered the first 3 of Uranus’ satellites. Its rings were first detected in 1977. The Voyager II Spacecraft found more in 1986. It can just be seen with the naked eye from Earth, but is not a common small telescope object as it shows no distinctive features – just a pale blue-green colour. Uranus rotates counter to most other planets, but is a gas giant like Saturn, Jupiter, and later Neptune. Its structure is similar to the other gas giants, but its rotation axis and slower revolution gives it strange day/night and seasonal characteristics. This talk will discuss the discovery and strange nature of Uranus.
Biography
Ian Sullivan has presented talks at all NACAA conventions since 1998, except 2006 and 2018. He is a Guide at Melbourne Observatory and regularly chases eclipses and transits.