Sir William Herschel, musician and amateur astronomer, happened upon this blue-green "ice giant" planet in 1781 using a huge telescope he had constructed himself. While he first proposed it be named in honor of King George III, the growing astronomical community settled instead on Urania, the muse of astronomy. Uranus revealed to astronomers in 1977 the second set of rings known in the solar system, later joined by Jupiter and Neptune as well.