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Portrait of William Herschel

William Herschel

Sir Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel was a German-born British astronomer and composer who is most famous for…

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28 worksheets · answer keys · full story · quiz · Ages 3-5 · CEFR A1

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The story

William Herschel: The Star Explorer

Hello. My name is William Herschel. When I was a boy, I loved two things very much: playing music and looking up at the sparkly night sky. The stars seemed like tiny, twinkling diamonds. I wondered what they were and what else was up there, far, far away.

I wanted to see the stars up close. So, with my amazing sister, Caroline, I decided to build a special looking glass called a telescope. We worked together to make it big and powerful. It was like a giant tube that made faraway things look much closer. Every night, we would take our telescope outside and point it toward the moon, the stars, and the beautiful, glowing planets.

One night in the year 1781, while I was peeking through my telescope, I saw something new. It was a little fuzzy dot that wobbled. It was not a star. It was a planet that no one had ever seen before. I was so excited. I discovered a new neighbor in our sky family, which we now call Uranus.

I spent my whole life exploring the stars with my telescopes. I lived to be 83 years old. People remember me for finding a new planet and for showing the world that there are always amazing new things to discover if you just keep looking up.

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About

Sir Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel was a German-born British astronomer and composer who is most famous for discovering the planet Uranus. He was also a pioneer in telescope construction and discovered infrared radiation.

Born 1738 CE
Moved to England 1757 CE
Discovered Uranus 1781 CE
Appointed Court Astronomer 1782 CE
Discovered Infrared Radiation 1800 CE
Died 1822 CE

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Who helped William build his telescope?

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William Herschel
William Herschel: The Star Explorer 0:00 / 0:00