Question

friedrich wilhelm herschel was ecstatic. for years, he had been building his own telescopes, studiously sweeping the sky each night and earning quite a reputation as an astronomer. now he had happened upon something unprecedented. a strange object, appearing as a fuzzy blue disk, filled the aperture of his telescope. herschel shared his findings with his colleagues, certain that hed discovered a comet. subsequent observation, however, revealed that the object moved in a circular path. herschel realized it was actually a new planet—the celestial body we know today as uranus.
herschel his original conclusion.
options: calculated, published, exaggerated, amended

Explanation:

To solve this, we analyze the context: Herschel initially thought the object was a comet, but later observations showed it was a planet. So we need a word meaning he changed his conclusion. "Amended" means to make changes or corrections, which fits. "Calculated" is about math, "published" is sharing work, "exaggerated" is overstating—none fit as well as "amended".

Answer:

D. amended