URANUS

QUICK FACTS• 7th planet from the Sun• First planet discovered by telescope•Uranus spins on its side•Discovered by William Herschel in 1781• 3rd largest planet in our solar system

A BLUE-GREEN WORLD•Uranus has a thick mix of hydrogen and methane as an atmosphere. The methane causes the planet’s blue-green color.• Some astronomers call Uranus an ‘ice giant’ because most of its mass is ice and some rocky material.

URANUS VS. OUR WORLD

URANUS EARTHDistance from

Sun 1.7 Billion Miles 93 Million Miles

Diameter 32,000 Miles 7926 Miles

Length of Year 84 Earth Years 365.25 Days

Length of Day 17.24 hours 23 hours 56 minutes Gravity .89 that of Earth 2.66 times that of Mars

Temperature Average -319 degrees F Average 57 degrees F

Number of Moons 27 1

A PLANET OFF KILTER• Uranus moves around the Sun with its rotation axis is perpendicular to its orbit around the sun.

• It is thought that a planet-sized body hit Uranus early in its history, “tipping” it over. Because of this, Uranus’ seasons last over 20 years

A PLANET OF MANY MOONS• The 27 moons of Uranus are named after characters from the works of

William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.

GOD OF THE SKY• Uranus was named after the Greek

god of the sky Ouranos, the earliest of the lords of the heavens. It is the only planet to be named after a Greek god rather than a Roman one. Before the name was settled on, other names were proposed, including Hypercronius ("above Saturn"), Minerva (the Roman goddess of wisdom), and Herschel, after its discoverer.