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The planet Uranus was originally called Georgium Sidus (George's Star) by its discoverer William Herschel. This didn't go well outside of Britain so it was named after the Greek deity of the sky. English speaking astronomers have had to deal with the giggling ever since.

Star Butterfly @mewnirebel

@evilscientistca They should have just called it Herschel. It would sound like a boring accountant, but..it would be more mature..right?

Herschel's rationale for his suggestion is kind of cute: he wanted us later folks be able to tell that this planet was discovered at the time of King George III.

I learned this just a little while ago from a nice video by Parallaxicality:

m.youtube.com/watch?v=WYPpTnGd

By the way, that's a cool picture, did you shoot it yourself?

@mewnirebel @evilscientistca