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William Herschel stands out in the history of astronomy as a remarkable man.
He was initially a successful musician, but then began to concentrate on his hobby of astronomy.
Over the course of the next fifty years, he become the greatest telescope-maker of his time and quite possibly, the greatest observer ever.
The big achievement he is now most often remembered for, is his discovery of the planet Uranus in 1781.
He did this with his home-made telescope. It was the first ever planet discovered by telescope… read on..
If you are just getting started in astronomy, then it is a really good idea to find out if there is a local astronomy society you could join.
Just go onto the internet and do a search for “astronomy society”, together with your location. Most societies have a website, so you should find out if there is one local to you. read on..
If you look at any astronomy books or star charts, you will quickly come across “M” numbers being used to identify objects in the sky.
For example, the Andromeda Galaxy (which is our nearest-neighbour, spiral galaxy and the furthest-away object you can see with the unaided eye) is referred to as M31. read on..
