ordinary cometary orbit would in any way fit its motion, and within three or four months of its discovery it was recognised—first by Anders Johann Lexell (1740–1784)—as being no comet but a new planet, revolving round the sun in a nearly circular path, at a distance about 19 times that of the earth and nearly double that of Saturn.
No new planet had been discovered in historic times, and Herschel's achievement was therefore absolutely unique; even the discovery of satellites inaugurated by Galilei (chapter vi., § 121) had come to a stop nearly a century before (1684), when Cassini had detected his second pair of satellites of Saturn (chapter viii., § 160). Herschel wished to exercise the discoverer's right of christening by calling the new planet after his royal patron Georgium Sidus, but though the name was used for some time in England, Continental astronomers never accepted it, and after an unsuccessful attempt to call the new body Herschel, it was generally agreed to give a name similar to those of the other planets, and Uranus was proposed and accepted.
Although by this time Herschel had published two or three scientific papers and was probably known to a slight extent in English scientific circles, the complete obscurity among Continental astronomers of the author of this memorable discovery is curiously illustrated by a discussion in the leading astronomical journal (Bode's Astronomisches Jahrbuch) as to the way to spell his name, Hertschel being perhaps the best and Mersthel the worst of several attempts.
254. This obscurity was naturally dissipated by the discovery of Uranus. Distinguished visitors to Bath, among them the Astronomer Royal Maskelyne (chapter x., § 219), sought his acquaintance; before the end of the year he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, in addition to receiving one of its medals, and in the following spring he was summoned to Court to exhibit himself, his telescopes, and his stars to George III. and to various members of the royal family. As the outcome of this visit he received from the King an appointment as royal astronomer, with a salary of £200 a year.
With this appointment his career as a musician came to an end, and in August 1782 the brother and sister left Bath for good, and settled first in a dilapidated house at
