ASTR 151 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Kuiper Belt, Dete, National League
Document Summary
Uranus was discovered my british astronomer william herschel in 1781. He discovered uranus while he was charting the faint stars in the sky and came across this odd- looking object. It was later realized that this was the seventh planet in the solar system. It was suspected that there was an eighth planet beyond uranus because as astronomers began charting uranus" orbit, they quickly discovered a small discrepancy between the planet"s predicted position and the position where they were actually observing it. They could not find an elliptical orbit that fit the planet"s trajectory with their measurements. So they decided there must be an unknown body exerting gravitational force on uranus. Increasing amounts of methane are largely responsible for the blue coloration or uranus and neptune. Methane absorbs red light efficiently, so the sunlight reflected from the planets" atmospheres is deficient in red and yellow and appears bluish-green or blue.
