We have a glorious group of constellations over in the Eastern sky. Capella is the brightest star over here, high in the northeast at the top of the ring-shaped constellation Auriga the charioteer. Below Auriga is Gemini, two bright stars on the left as the heads of the two famous warrior twins, and two strings of stars going off to the right as their bodies.
Jupiter is still fantastically bright, low in the south at sunset, then moving into the southwest as the evening progresses. But Jupiter is not the only planet in the evening sky tonight: Uranus is out too, although you probably won’t find it without a telescope. The planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn have all been known since ancient times. Uranus was the first planet to be discovered! It was found by the English astronomer William Herschel in 1781. This was the first time in history that anyone had ever discovered a NEW planet. However, things became a little controversial when Herschel announced what he wanted to name the new planet: “I have decided that my new planet shall be called: George! That’s right, George, named after my very good friend George, the King of England. The planets will now be Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and George! Now, there are some who have said that I’m only naming it George, because in the past, the King has given me a lot of money. And I mean a lot! But that is completely untrue. I’m not naming it George because of all the money that he gave me in the past: It’s because of all the money that he could give me in the future! After all, he’s the King, and there’s lot more where that came from, isn’t there?” Fortunately, astronomers instead decided to name the new planet Uranus after the Greek god of the sky.
We have a glorious group of constellations over in the Eastern sky. Capella is the brightest star over here, high in the northeast at the top of the ring-shaped constellation Auriga the charioteer. Below Auriga is Gemini, two bright stars on the left as the heads of the two famous warrior twins, and two strings of stars going off to the right as their bodies. 
Jupiter is still fantastically bright, low in the south at sunset, then moving into the southwest as the evening progresses. But Jupiter is not the only planet in the evening sky tonight: Uranus is out too, although you probably won’t find it without a telescope. The planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn have all been known since ancient times. Uranus was the first planet to be discovered! It was found by the English astronomer William Herschel in 1781. This was the first time in history that anyone had ever discovered a NEW planet. However, things became a little controversial when Herschel announced what he wanted to name the new planet: “I have decided that my new planet shall be called: George! That’s right, George, named after my very good friend George, the King of England. The planets will now be Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and George! Now, there are some who have said that I’m only naming it George, because in the past, the King has given me a lot of money. And I mean a lot! But that is completely untrue. I’m not naming it George because of all the money that he gave me in the past: It’s because of all the money that he could give me in the future! After all, he’s the King, and there’s lot more where that came from, isn’t there?” Fortunately, astronomers instead decided to name the new planet Uranus after the Greek god of the sky.
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