![]() Methane gas makes Uranus appear aqua-blue. Its atmosphere is made of hydrogen and helium like Jupiter’s and Saturn’s, but also contains methane. Uranus’ mantle is composed of water, methane, and ammonia fluids above a small core of ice and rock.At last count, Uranus has 27 moons, which are named after characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.Shines at magnitude 5.7, which places it at the limited range of naked eye visibility from a dark sky site.According to NASA, the planet's north pole experiences 21 years of nighttime in winter, 21 years of daytime in summer and 42 years of day and night in the spring and fall. Rotates east to west but is unique in that it rotates on its side with an axial tilt of 98 degrees.The coldest temperature found in Uranus' lower atmosphere is a frigid minus 371 degrees F. ![]() Averages 7 years to pass through each constellation of the zodiac.Takes 17 hours to rotate on its axis and orbits the Sun once every 84 years.Average distance 1.784 billion miles away from the Sun.Approximately 31,518 miles in diameter.Five times the mass of Earth and one of the least dense objects in our Solar System.Uranus became the first planet to be discovered through a telescope as Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were bright enough to be seen and discovered with the naked eye. Once the object’s orbit around the Sun was determined, Herschel was recognized for officially discovering a new planet! He named this remote world Georgium Sidus or George's Star after King George III, but the scientific community accepted astronomer Johann Elert Bode's suggestion to name it Uranus, after the Greek god of the sky. After noting its position, he returned to this elusive object sometime later and noticed it had moved from where it should have been. He came across a greenish object that was clearly a small disc but did not take on the familiar characteristics of a star. It was discovered in 1781 by British astronomer, William Herschel, who was mapping the night sky while looking for comets through his telescope. Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and third-largest planet in our Solar System. Let's dive into what we know about these distant worlds and ways to observe them. In recent years, as science has evolved, these mysterious worlds have begun to reveal some of their secrets. While they may not get as much attention as the more popular planets closer to the Sun, each is unique in its own enigmatic way. Beyond the orbit of Saturn in the cold and dark depths of the outer Solar System lie the giant planets Uranus and Neptune, along with a dwarf planet and the former ninth planet in the Solar System, Pluto.
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