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Edmund
Halley was made Astronomer Royal in 1720, and in 1758 his prediction
that his namesake comet would return was proved correct. Other stargazers
were making important discoveries around this time. John
Flamsteed was the first ever Astronomer Royal, and he published
his star catalogue and introduced star numbering in each constellation.
Thomas
Wright suggested in 1750 that the Milky Way was a disk like system
of stars. In 1781, William Hershel discovered Uranus, and Charles
Messier discovered a set of galaxies, nebulae and star clusters which
he works into his catalogue. At around this time, scientists began
to speculate on the origin of solar system and celestial bodies. The
philosopher Kant
had had a go at this a few years earlier, and in 1796 Laplace came
along and proposed another theory. He based his ideas on a theory
of stellar evolution, which was to be developed further in later centuries.
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