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Uranus
Information about the planet Uranus.
Actual |
Compared to Earth |
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| Distance from Sun (average) | 1.8 billion miles | 19.2 |
| Distance from Sun (current) | loading... | loading... |
| Distance from Earth (current) | loading... loading... |
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| Revolution Period | 84 years | -- |
| Rotation Period | 17 hours 14 minutes | -- |
| Diameter | 31,900 miles | 4 |
| Mass | -- | 14.5 |
| Surface Gravity | -- | ~0.89 |
| Temperature Cloud Tops | -200 °C (-328 °F) | |
| Density (gram/cubic cm) | 1.30 gm/cm3 | 0.24 |
What To Look For Through The Telescope
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Recommended eyepiece: 26mm or 40 mm.
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Uranus appears as a small greenish ball through the telescope. None of its moons can be seen.
Uranus Information
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Uranus is the third largest planet in the solar system.
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Uranus was the first planet discovered with a telescope – by William Herschel in 1781. It was plotted as a faint star on at least 20 star charts drawn between 1690 and 1781, but was not recognized as a planet.
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Uranus rotates on its side as it orbits the sun. It is thought that a planet-sized body collided with Uranus early in the solar system’s history, causing Uranus to tip.
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Uranus has a rocky core surrounded by a liquid mantle of water, ammonia, and methane. The outer layer is primarily hydrogen and helium with a small amount of methane.
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The methane in Uranus’s atmosphere absorbs red light so we see the planet as blue-green.
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The cloud features form beneath a layer of hydrocarbon smog and are almost invisible.
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Ten very narrow rings circle Uranus. They are similar to the ringlets around Saturn. Another 50 very faint and very dusty rings were discovered by Voyager.
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The rings around Uranus were discovered in 1977, by a team of astronomers watching Uranus pass in front of a distant star. This star seemed to blink out several times before Uranus itself covered the star – the rings were blocking the light from the star.
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Uranus has at least 27 moons. They’re named mostly for characters from the works of Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.
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References
| Item | Updated | Notes |
| Distance | 2002-09-29 | https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/uranus/facts |
| Revolution Period | 2017-05-07 | OK |
| Rotation Period | 2017-05-07 | OK |
| Diameter | 2017-05-07 | OK |
| Mass | 2017-05-07 | OK |
| Surface Gravity | 2017-05-07 | OK |
| Temperature | 2017-05-07 | OK |
| Density | 2017-05-07 | OK |
| Other Information | 2017-05-07 | https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/uranusfact.html http://solarviews.com/eng/uranus.htm |