This episode of Astronomycast is brought to you by Swinburne Astronomy Online, the world's longest running online astronomy degree program.

Visit astronomy.swin.edu.au for more information.

Astronomycast, episode 172 from Monday, January 11, 2010. William Herschel.

Welcome to Astronomycast, our weekly facts-based journey through the cosmos, where we help you understand not only what we know, but how we know what we know.

My name is Fraser Kane, I'm the publisher of university and with me is Dr. Pamela Gaia Professor at Southern Illinois University, Everett'sville.

Pamela, how are you doing?

I'm doing well, how are you doing, Fraser?

Good, good, it's cold, wet, but that's, you know, it's good in the winter.

We're cold, sunny.

My wife is down in Cancun right now, so yeah, I get the calls every now and then telling me how much fun she's having, but she's back tomorrow.

So she gets to join us in the winter again.

Right, so ancient astronomers knew of five planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.

Sixth of the count earth, and then in 1781, William Herschel discovered an entirely new planet, Uranus, boosting the number of planets to seven.

Now let's learn about Herschel, his equipment, his discoveries, and his sister Caroline, and accomplished the astronomer all on her own.

All right, so Pamela, we've talked a bit about Uranus and the discovery, but so why don't we just start talking a bit about William Herschel?

Who was Herschel?

Well, he was a classically trained musician actually.

He was someone who had gone through life following in his father's footsteps, thinking that as a musician he could really make something of himself.

He was a violinist, he played the oboe, he conducted, he even wrote a symphony.

But like so many people, he got introduced to astronomy by a friend, by a book, by both actually.

By a podcast?

Well, not quite back then, but back in 1773, he got introduced to astronomy, and by a year later he was already starting to build telescopes.

...