section_path: History
section_name: History
paragraph_text: History
  
  Like the classical planets, Uranus is visible to the naked eye, but it was never recognised as a planet by ancient observers because of its dimness and slow orbit. William Herschel first observed Uranus on 13 March 1781, leading to its discovery as a planet, expanding the known boundaries of the Solar System for the first time in history and making Uranus the first planet classified as such with the aid of a telescope. The discovery of Uranus also effectively doubled the size of the known Solar System because Uranus is around twice the distance from the Sun as the planet Saturn.