Mr Herschel's Planet

The Sky at Night • Season 25 • Episode 3

About this episode

Patrick Moore tells the story of William Herschel, the obscure Hanoverian army bandsman whose discovery with a home-made telescope of the planet Uranus doubled the size of the known solar system. Herschel was hired to provide 'astronomical entertainment' for the British Royal Family and King George III gave him £4,000 to build the world's largest telescope in a garden at Slough.