The solar system is comprised of eight planets in the order: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Thus, Uranus is the seventh planet in order and the second farthest away from the Sun. The planet is a gas giant and is known for its extreme seasons. Although the term Uranus has inspired many jokes, the planet Uranus was actually named after the Greek god of the sky. It used to be called Georgium Sidus until about 1850s. It took nearly 70 years after its discovery for the term Uranus to be used widely.
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The planet Uranus was discovered in 1781 by Sir William Herschel. It was observed many times before its official discovery and was commonly mistaken for a star. Even in 1781, Sir William Herschel had been confused about whether his discovery was a planet or a comet. It was the spherical orbit of Uranus aroud the Sun that finally led to its classification as a planet.
It is thought that the planets Uranus and Neptune developed much closer to the Sun and then moved away from the Sun as time went on. The Sun is thought to have been formed by a giant gas nebula. It is parts of this gas nebula that are known to drift away and make the planets of the solar system. The gravitational forces kept these planets in the Sun's orbits and kept them from drifting out of the solar system altogether.
In 1986, NASA's Voyager 2 was the first and only satellite to pass near the planet Uranus.
This section will take a closer look at Uranus and discover interesting facts about its size, composition, temperature, orbit, distance from the sun, and rotation.
The planet Uranus weighs about 14.5 times that of the planet Earth. Its diameter is also 4 times that of the planet Earth. It is the least dense planet in the solar system. Only the sun is less dense than Uranus. This low density indicates that it is made primarily of ice, water, methane, and ammonia.
The structure of Uranus contains about three layers total: a rocky core, an icy mantle in the middle layer, and an outer layer made of hydrogen and helium gasses. The core is very small. The mantle comprises the bulk of the size of the planet. It is hypothesized that the mantle of Uranus contains liquid diamonds leading to rainfalls of diamonds on the surface of Uranus. This is also hypothesized for Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune.
The temperature on the planet Uranus is very slow and the internal heat within the planet is also very low. It is the coldest planet in the solar system. For this reason, this planet is also known as an Ice Giant.
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The planet Uranus contains about thirteen rings around it. They are mostly comprised of dark particles and are very narrow in width. The epsilon ring is known to be the brightest ring. These rings are thought to evolve over time. They were not believed to be present when the planet was first discovered by Sir William Herschel. The rings are thought to be comprised of debris particles from when one of the moons shattered in its orbit. The outer rings have blue and red colors while the inner rings reflect gray color.
Uranus is the coldest planet in the solar system. The lowest temperature observed is -370 degrees F. The highest temperature observed is 116 degrees F. Due to the cold temperatures seen on Uranus, most of the matter is icy in nature.
It takes Uranus about 84 years to orbit around the Sun. This is in contrast to Earth which takes about a year to orbit the Sun. However, this difference makes sense as the Earth is much closer to the Sun than Uranus. The planet Uranus is about 1.8 billion miles away from the Sun and the radius of its orbit around the Sun is 25 km wide.
Each day on Uranus is about 17 hours long. This is the amount of time it takes for its rotation. It is the only planet which rotates on its side. The planet has a tilt of about 98 degrees along its axis. One hypothesis for why Uranus rotates of its side is that during the formation of the solar system, a large protoplanet ran into Uranus and disturbed its rotation to the angle that exists today.
The planet of Uranus has 27 moons currently. They are also called natural satellites. They are named based on the works by William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope (ie. Oberon, Umbriel, Titania, Ariel, and Miranda). The moons of Uranus are much lighter and less dense than that of the other planets in the solar system. Furthermore, there are believed to be many more moons that are yet to be discovered.
Number of moons on other planets:
This section lists the names of the moons in order of their size. It also includes the year of discovery, size of the moon, and work of literature that the name comes from. It is worthy to note that most of the moons are named after works by William Shakespeare. The smallest moon is Cupid at 18 km diameter and the largest is Titania at nearly 1575 km diameter. The moons were discovered from the year 1787 through 2003.
| Name of Moon | Year of Discovery | Diameter | Named After |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cupid | 2003 | 18km | Timon of Athens by W. Shakespeare |
| Trinculo | 2001 | 18 km | The Tempest by W. Shakespeare |
| Ferdinand | 2003 | 20 km | The Tempest by W. Shakespeare |
| Margaret | 2003 | 20 km | Much Ado about Nothing by W. Shakespeare |
| Francisco | 2003 | 22 km | The Tempest by W. Shakespeare |
| Mab | 2003 | 25 km | Romeo and Juliet by W. Shakespeare |
| Perdita | 1999 | 30 km | The Winter's Tale by W. Shakespeare |
| Stephano | 1999 | 32 km | The Tempest by W. Shakespeare |
| Cordelia | 1986 | 40 km | King Lear by W. Shakespeare |
| Caliban | 1997 | 42 km | The Tempest by W. Shakespeare |
| Ophelia | 1986 | 43 km | Hamlet by W. Shakespeare |
| Setebos | 1999 | 48 km | The Tempest by W. Shakespeare |
| Prospero | 1999 | 50 km | The Tempest by W. Shakespeare |
| Bianca | 1986 | 51 km | The taming of the shrew by W. Shakespeare |
| Desdemona | 1986 | 64 km | Othello by W. Shakespeare |
| Rosalind | 1986 | 72 km | As You Like It by W. Shakespeare |
| Cressida | 1986 | 80 km | Troilus and Cressida by W. Shakespeare |
| Belinda | 1986 | 90 km | Rape of Lock by A. Pope |
| Juliet | 1986 | 94 km | Romeo and Juliet by W. Shakespeare |
| Portia | 1986 | 135 km | The Merchant of Venice by W. Shakespeare |
| Sycorax | 1997 | 157 km | Tempest by W. Shakespeare |
| Puck | 1985 | 162 km | Midsummer night's dream by W. Shakespeare |
| Miranda | 1948 | 470 km | Tempest by W. Shakespeare |
| Ariel | 1851 | 1157 km | Rape of Lock by A. Pope and Tempest by W. Shakespeare |
| Umbriel | 1851 | 1170 km | Rape of the Lock by A. Pope |
| Oberon | 1787 | 1522 km | Midsummer night's dream by W. Shakespeare |
| Titania | 1787 | 1575 km | Midsummer night's dream by W. Shakespeare |
Uranus is a Gas Giant and the seventh planet from the sun. The third largest planet in the solar system, Uranus has rings just like Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune. In 1986, Voyager 2 visited Uranus, uncovering new features previously unknown.
Discovered by William Herschel on March 13, 1781, Uranus was the first planet discovered in modern times with a telescope as opposed to with the naked eye. In fact, it had been observed many times throughout history, but it was mistaken as another star.
All of the planets are tilted on their axes to some degree, but Uranus has the most extreme axial tilt of 98°. One of the unique features of Uranus is that it rotates on its side. This leads Uranus to experience extreme seasons. Additionally, it leads to unusual days at the poles.
At the equator, Uranus experiences normal days and nights. However, because it rotates on its side, at any given time one pole is pointed towards the Sun. This results in one pole experiencing 42 Earth years of day followed by 42 years of night.
Uranus is a 'Gas Giant' with a surface area of about 8,115,600,000 square kilometers. It's surface is frozen and gaseous with a molten core. Uranus is roughly 15 times the mass of the Earth, although it is has a density only similar to water at 1.27 g/cm^3, mostly containing gaseous water, ammonia and methane.
Uranus has 27 moons. Although many moons in the solar system are named after mythological figures, the moons of Uranus are instead named after characters from Shakespeare and Alexander Pope's literary works. The largest moon is Titania with a radius of only 788.9 km, less than half the size of our moon. The next four largest moons are Miranda, Oberon, Umbriel, and Ariel.
Here are some basic facts and figures relating to Uranus:
At a distance of over 1.7 billion miles from the sun, Uranus is the seventh planet in our solar system. in 1986, Voyager 2 flew by Uranus and uncovered 10 new moons, bringing the total to 27 moons, the largest being Titania. Uranus is a Gas Giant composed mostly of gaseous water, ammonia and methane. The most unique feature of Uranus is that it orbits on its side, and this results in each pole being pointed at the sun for half of its 84 year orbit.
After completing this lesson about Uranus, students should be able to:
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The 27 moons of Uranus have been thought to form due to collision of the planet with other objects in space such as comets and protoplanet over the years.
Uranus is the coldest planet in the solar system. The temperatures from the outer to innermost layers ranges from -370 degrees F to 116 degrees F.
It is the coldest planet.
It orbits on its side.
It has 27 moons.
It has many rings around it blue, red and gray in color.
Its atmosphere consists of ice due to its cold nature.
It takes 84 years to go around the Sun.
The day lasts only 17 hours on Uranus.
It is the second least dense planet.
It was the first planet discovered in the modern age.
It can be see without a telescope.
No, humans cannot breathe on Uranus as there is no evidence of breathable oxygen on the planet. Also, the planet is very cold.
Uranus is the coldest planet in the solar system. Also, it has 27 moons all of which are named after works of W. Shakespeare or A. Pope.
