Nebulae drawn by German-Anglo astronomer William Herschel (1738-1822) in 1811. Herschel believed that these assorted nebulae could be different snapshots of an evolutionary sequence of gravitational collapse into one or more stars. Herschel was the first astronomer to study binary stars and, while searching for comets in 1781, he discovered Uranus, the first new planet to be discovered since ancient times. He also discovered two satellites of Uranus (Titania and Oberon, 1787), and two of Saturn (Mimas and Enceladus, 1789-90). King George III appointed William his Astronomer Royal in 1787. This version published in 1813.