All About Uranus

Uranus is made of water, methane, and ammonia fluids above a small rocky center. Its atmosphere is
made of hydrogen and helium like Jupiter and Saturn, but it also has methane. The methane makes
Uranus blue.

Uranus also has faint rings. The inner rings are narrow and dark. The outer rings are brightly colored and
easier to see. Like Venus, Uranus rotates in the opposite direction as most other planets. And unlike any
other planet, Uranus rotates on its side

Structure and Surface

 Uranus is surrounded by a set of 13 rings.

 Uranus is an ice giant (instead of a gas giant). It is mostly made of flowing
icy materials above a solid core.
 Uranus has a thick atmosphere made of methane, hydrogen, and helium.
 Uranus is the only planet that spins on its side.
 Uranus spins the opposite direction as Earth and most other planets.

Time on Uranus

 One day on Uranus lasts a little over 17 hours (17 hours and 14 minutes,
to be exact).
 One year on Uranus is the same as 84 years on Earth. That’s a long time
to wait for a birthday cake.

Uranus' Neighbors

 Uranus has 27 known moons.

 Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. That means Saturn and
Neptune are Uranus’ neighboring planets.

Quick History
  Uranus was discovered in 1781 by William Herschel in Great Britain.
 Uranus has only been visited by Voyager 2.

What does Uranus look like?

This picture shows Uranus surrounded by its four major rings and by 10 of its moons. This image has
colors added to show the different altitudes and thicknesses of clouds in the atmosphere. Green and blue
areas show where the atmosphere is clear and sunlight can get through. The yellow and grey parts have
thicker clouds. Orange and red colors mean very high clouds, similar to cirrus clouds on Earth.

The Latest
April 24, 2018: The jokes, they write themselves. The science is pretty
interesting, too. What do the clouds of Uranus have in common with
rotten eggs? The composition of Uranus' clouds had long been a
mystery. In April 2017, a global research team found hydrogen sulfide,
the odiferous gas that most people avoid, in Uranus’ cloud tops—a
striking difference from the gas giant planets located closer to the Sun.

The first planet found with the aid of a telescope, Uranus was discovered
in 1781 by astronomer William Herschel, although he originally thought it
was either a comet or a star. It was two years later that the object was
universally accepted as a new planet, in part because of observations by
astronomer Johann Elert Bode. Herschel tried unsuccessfully to name
his discovery Georgium Sidus after King George III. Instead the planet
was named for Uranus, the Greek god of the sky, as suggested by
Johann Bode.