2007-11-15 04:03:25 · 9 answers · asked by sandy 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
uranus 3/13/1781 by caroline herschel...
2007-11-15 04:12:32 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Beside Earth...? The Earth was not the first planet to be discovered. The Earth was considered something different than a planet. Maybe the first planet would be Venus... As Venus change it position faster than Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, and is the brightest, the cave men would classified it as a 'moving star' (planet).. And latter this club included Jupiter, Mars, Mercury and Saturn. Only when the Sun were accepted as the center of the universe, the Earth became a planet.
2007-11-15 05:10:35 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Seven "planets" have been known since antiquity. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, the Moon and the Sun were all considered planets which means "Wanderer." These seven bodies wandered among the fixed stars.
It was not known that the heavenly bodies called planets were related to Earth in a fundamental "round rock" kinda way. The heavenly bodies were considered "perfect" because they were part of heaven. When telescopes were invented, Galileo showed that the moon had rocks mountains and valleys like Earth. It was believed the smooth parts were seas, though that is now known to be wrong.
2007-11-15 04:55:09 · answer #3 · answered by Owl Eye 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn can be seen easily without a telescope. They have been known since ancient times. They appear as extra stars that wander from constellation to constellation in the Zodiac. Like the Sun and Moon, they can only appear in one of the 12 Zodiac constellations. You will never see on in the big dipper for example, because it is not a Zodiac constellation. Astrology is based on where these wandering "stars" are seen.
Uranus was the first planet discovered in historic times, by telescope.
2007-11-15 04:07:31 · answer #4 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
the ancient peoples knew about Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, though they only viewed them as moving 'stars' in the sky. It wasn't until Galileo's time that telescopes showed the moving 'stars' were actually spherical balls, other planets. So, I'd say that one of those five, probably Jupiter or Saturn were the first to be recognized as being bodies similar to earth instead of similar to stars. In 1781, Herschel discovered Uranus, the first "new" planet in thousands of years.
2007-11-15 04:07:50 · answer #5 · answered by David Bowman 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn can be seen with the naked eye, and therefore have no official discoverers. Humans have been looking at them for as long as they've been gazing skyward.
Therefore, the first planet to be "discovered" is Uranus, which was discovered by Sir William Herschel in 1781.
2007-11-15 05:23:54 · answer #6 · answered by kyeri y 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The 5 inner planets were the most seen; If I was a bettin' man, I'd say Venus was probably the first to be given a name - it's the 3rd brightest object in the sky (or was) at times...
2007-11-15 04:37:17 · answer #7 · answered by quantumclaustrophobe 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
According to the ancient definition of the word planet (Wanderer), the Moon would have been the first.
2007-11-15 06:36:05 · answer #8 · answered by Monkeyboi 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
it would be really cool to meet the first guy (or lady) that recognized that the visible planets were NOT fixed like the other lights in the sky.
had to be a damn clever person.
on my list of people i would like to meet, along with the first guy that looked at an oyster and said "I'd eat that!"
(musta been a dare.)
((or a bar bet!))
(((did cavemen have fraternity hazing?)))
2007-11-15 05:46:27 · answer #9 · answered by Faesson 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋