Sir William Herschel, Uranus, and the Museum of Astronomy in Bath

It was by sheer coincidence that on the day I purchased a telescope from a shop in Bath,  I also found the Herschel  museum of Astronomy just a short walk away. The Georgian town house at 19 New King Street was the  home of Sir William Herschel and  his sister Caroline. It's open almost every day of the year -  www.herschelmuseum.org.uk .  This charming little museum on  three floors  has been preserved more or less as it was in the Herschels' time and houses a collection of objects connected with their research and work on the construction of a huge wooden telescope, with which William would eventually discover the planet Uranus from the back garden.  Like the late Sir Patrick Moore, a patron of the museum, Herschel was  a talented musician. Indeed, it was as a musician that he first came from Hannover in Germany to live and work in Bath. A number of musical instruments are also on show in the music room of the house.

This 1970 stamp commemorated 150 years of the RAS of which Sir William Herschel was  president.
He is shown on the left, his son John on the right, and in the centre is Francis Baily (Baily's beads).





Herschel's telescope was  featured on the right of the 26p value of the Astronomy set issued in 1990.

Caroline Herschel followed her brother to England to run the house in Bath and assisted him in his research, eventually  becoming a talented astronomer herself. She was responsible for the discovery of  nine comets and won a  gold medal from the RAS for her work.

She is also featured on  postage stamps,  including this one from Guyana, commemorating the 750th anniversary of Hannover, where the Herschels were born.

 Astronomy is a popular theme for stamp collectors.
The name for collecting astronomy themed stamps is Astrophilately!

If you want to find out  about Uranus, I can recommend "14 Fun Facts About Uranus" by Jeannie Meekins, from the 15 minute book series about the planets, for age 8 + (which I am!).

I'm  hoping the weather will improve and we can try out the telescope and make some discoveries of our own!