In 1781 William Herschel was the first person in history to discover a new planet. He was observing in the back garden of his home in Bath, England. The house where history was made is a museum and its new Caroline Lucretia Gallery is named for William's sister, the first woman to discover a comet.

Herschel Museum of Astronomy

Here is the website of the Herschel Museum if you want to find out about the current exhibition, or other information about the museum.

The floor of Herschel's workshop which was damaged in an attempt to cast a metal mirror. The accident, which mercifully caused no injuries, was recorded in Caroline's journal.

The photo of Herschel Museum of Astronomy is courtesy of TripAdvisor. (If you click the link to go to the site, there are also some other photos of the museum.)

A statue of William and Caroline was added to the garden in 1988. The sculptor Vivien Moudell named it "Star Gazers", and it's made of Bath stone and slate.You can see the slate panel above the figures - it's engraved with planetary orbits.

As you can also see, by now the Herschels are showing their age(s). [William was 12 years older than Caroline.]

The garden of Herschel House is laid out in a way that 18th century gardens were, with the same sort plants.

Somewhere in the garden William Herschel had his telescope set up the night he discovered a planet. (His sister was elsewhere.) No one knows where he set up his telescope. I read recently on one website that it was thought to be where the sundial is, but I hadn't seen that before. The garden used to extend much further back than it does today. There's a good chance that where the telescope was isn't part of the property anymore.