I assure you that Uranus has been observed many times by many people dating far back into the past, such as by Hipparchos in 2nd Century BC. They conclusively figured out exactly what it was in 1846.
Well back then, people didn’t wear many clothes, so if they bent over you’d see right up their bums.
Twenty centuries of wondering what it is, until someone snapped and said “listen, it’s Uranus, are you happy now?”
The Sirius star(s) 8000 light away was discovered before Europe.
Mars surface is studied better than Earth in 2024. Because there are no oceans or trees on Mars.
Some people today couldn’t find Uranus with both hands and a flashlight.
To be fair, we don’t usually have a clear line of sight to Antarctica.
tbf, discovering Uranus was a lot less deadly before modern icebreaking ships. Age of Sail ships did not do well down there, and the economic incentives of sealing resulted in quite a lot of casualties back in the day. Doing math and peering through telescopes is much safer.
You say this, but you’ve never seen me try to math
It’s like it tell my kids, you have to look under and behind things…
But you can see one in your backyard sometimes.
Oh, you have your own The Antarctica too?
I don’t know about you, but I find seeing things to be much easier when there isn’t a planet obscuring it.
“The” Antarctica
I mean, I guess there’s only one
It’s only until we discover the second one
Is that where Santa lives?
No that’s ananarctica
No, it’s the secret location where less-cooperative elves are sent who question Santa’s work scheduling, pay rates, and anti union stance.
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I got a really bad crick in my neck once
Yeah. The only invention we needed was telescopic lenses in order to spot Uranus.
In fairness, Uranus is much larger than Antarctica.
Your momma’s anus is much larger than Antarctica.
How’s it feel coming back atcha buddy?
Oedipal.
Bloody hell, I didn’t expect a friendly meme-roasting session to be educational…
My fine Sir, I extend my salutations and congratulations on your absolutely brilliant play.
Then again it could be super close and the size of a potato.
I read about the Antarctic. They kept running into walls of ice before they could find/see it.
Tbf looking upward at the sky is a lot easier than taking a giant wooden coffin over thousands of miles of water to find an icy hells ape where almost nothing can survive
icy hells ape
That’s going in my next D&D campaign
I mean, gelugons sort of look like apes if you squint leftways.
icy hells ape
Yeah, that’s fucking terrifying
that fucking troll on the way to the grey beards, fml.
The advantage of becoming leader of the college, thieve’s guild, nightingales, and companions before even bothering to visit Balgruff.
Is this the same “discovered” as America was “discovered” in 1492?
Actually no, I don’t think there were any people living in Antarctica… but I could be wrong.
But were there people living in the southern hemisphere who knew not to go further south because they’d reach the icy land of certain death?
There were probably people who knew that if they went further south they’d not come back. On maps locations like these used to be labeled “Here there be monsters” or something like that.
Probably not. They knew not to go further south because they’d reach the icy ocean of certain death. Because there’s no land at 60° South, the winds and currents whip around Antarctica in an uninterrupted circle and there are 100 kph winds and 10+ meter waves most of the time.
See also: “Roaring Forties,” “Furious Fifties,” and “Screaming Sixties”
Probably no settlements, but Polynesians went all over the place so it’s not unlikely that they checked it out at some point.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynesian_navigation#Subantarctic_and_Antarctica
Sounds like a “probably not, but maybe.”
I’m a big fan of Polynesian sailing and would argue that they were every bit the equal of Age of Sail Europeans, if not superior (even despite lacking compass technology). However, their boats and clothing were generally pretty optimized for the tropics, not polar conditions.
I, for one, wouldn’t want to be in the Screaming Sixties wearing a cloak and no pants exposed on the deck of a catamaran, no matter how many seal pelts said cloak was made out of. I can only assume any sane wayfinder would say “fuck this shit” and turn North well before hitting the Antarctic shore.
This is a very human centric definition of discovery.
Penguins had been living there for millenia beforehand.
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I was mocking the attitude that something can’t be discovered by one group of people if a different group of people already knew about it.
Columbus discovering the Americas is commonly called a “euro-centric definition of discovery”. While conveniently ignoring that literally nobody in Europe knew the Americas existed.
