1 hr 1 min
Episode 2.51 3/10/17 - It Could Have Been Our Anus - We Doomie Bastards Doomed To Reheat
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- History
The Babylonians were astronomical bastards. Thousands of years before the beginning of the common era, without the benefit of glass or radio, they discovered and plotted the the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Of course the planets weren’t called by those names at that time, that naming happened later, when Rome ruled the world, and their gods were the ones filled the heavens. Saturn wasn’t a god at all, but a titan and father to all the gods, so certainly god like, anyway. And for thousands of years, those were the only planets we know.
In 1781, on March 13 (coming up Monday, it we need a second celebration) William Herschel, first spotted a faint object moving in our sky. He first thought it was a comet, but on further observation and calculation he and his peers decided it was a planet. And he was the one lucky enough to get to name it. He initially wanted to name it Georgium, after his Majesty King George III. He felt the Roman naming convention was fine for those meagre planets known to the Romans, but this new discovery should be memorialized so that all historians would know under whose reign it was discovered.
The Babylonians were astronomical bastards. Thousands of years before the beginning of the common era, without the benefit of glass or radio, they discovered and plotted the the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Of course the planets weren’t called by those names at that time, that naming happened later, when Rome ruled the world, and their gods were the ones filled the heavens. Saturn wasn’t a god at all, but a titan and father to all the gods, so certainly god like, anyway. And for thousands of years, those were the only planets we know.
In 1781, on March 13 (coming up Monday, it we need a second celebration) William Herschel, first spotted a faint object moving in our sky. He first thought it was a comet, but on further observation and calculation he and his peers decided it was a planet. And he was the one lucky enough to get to name it. He initially wanted to name it Georgium, after his Majesty King George III. He felt the Roman naming convention was fine for those meagre planets known to the Romans, but this new discovery should be memorialized so that all historians would know under whose reign it was discovered.
1 hr 1 min