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  • image of uranus

    Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun, and has the third-largest diameter in our solar system. It was 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 scientific community accepted Bode's suggestion to name it Uranus, the Greek god of the sky, as suggested by Bode.​

    Uranus is one of two ice giants in the outer solar system (the other is Neptune). Most (80% or more) of the planet's mass is made up of a hot dense fluid of "icy" materials – water, methane, and ammonia – above a small rocky core.

    Uranus probably has three layers inside it: a rocky core at the center, an icy mantle surrounding that, and an outer gas envelope of hydrogen and helium. The core of Uranus is very small, with only half the mass of the Earth. The largest portion of Uranus is the icy mantle.

    10 Need-To-Know Things About Uranus

    HUGE

    Uranus is about four times wider than Earth. If Earth were a large apple, Uranus would be the size of a basketball.

    SEVENTH WANDERER

    Uranus orbits our Sun, a star, and is the seventh planet from the Sun at a distance of about 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers)

    SHORT-ISH DAY, LONGISH YEAR

    Uranus takes about 17 hours to rotate once (a Uranian day), and about 84 Earth years to complete an orbit of the Sun (a Uranian year).

    ICE GIANT

    Uranus is an ice giant. Most of its mass is a hot, dense fluid of "icy" materials – water, methane and ammonia – above a small rocky core.

    GASSY

    Uranus has an atmosphere made mostly of molecular hydrogen and atomic helium, with a small amount of methane.

    MANY MOONS

    Uranus has 27 known moons, and they are named after characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.

    THE OTHER RINGED WORLD

    Uranus has 13 known rings. The inner rings are narrow and dark and the outer rings are brightly colored.

    A BIT LONELY

    Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to fly by Uranus. No spacecraft has orbited this distant planet to study it at length and up close

    LIFELESS

    Uranus cannot support life as we know it.

    ONE COOL FACT

    Like Venus, Uranus rotates east to west. But Uranus is unique in that it rotates on its side.