Uranus

August 31, 2013 - May 9, 2019

Uranus
Number of Sattelites	27
Discovered by	William Herschel
Date of Discovery	March 13, 1781
Atmospheric Makeup	82.5% hydrogen 14.6% helium 2.27% methane 0.00087% hydrogen
Distance from Sun	1.8 billion miles
Diameter	31,950 miles 51,118 kilometers
Axial tilt	97.769 degrees
Orbit	84 Earthen years
Position in Solar System	Seventh planet from Sun
Surface Features	Gaseous surface, along with Great Dark Spot
Albedo	(geometric) 0.508 (bond) 0.298
Aphelion	1.88 billion miles
Perihelion	1.72 billion miles
Mass of Planet	8.68 x 10^25 kg
Escape Velocity	21.26 kilometers/second

Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. Uranus was founded by William Herschel on March 13, 1781. Uranus was the first planet to be discovered by a telescope. Uranus is home to 27 satellites. Wind speeds on Uranus can reach up to 250 miles per hour. It is slightly bigger than its brother planet, Neptune.

FormationEdit

Uranus was formed by a nebula cloud that also created the other planets and the Sun. Since this planet was formed so far away from the Sun, there was not enough force to compact the sphere together, only leaving a gaseous planet.

Internal StructureEdit

The internal structure of Uranus is similar to that of its neighboring planet, Neptune. The structure makes Uranus the least massive of the gas giants, being only fifteen times the mass of the Earth. The variation of ices in the internal structure, which include water, ammonia, and methane, is similar to that of Neptune. Though the amount of mass the ice layer in the structure makes up is not fully determined, it is estimated to make up thirteen Earth masses at the most, which 86.67% of the mass of Uranus itself.

The core of Uranus is small compared to that of other gas giants, for it only has a mass of 0.55 Earth masses. It is mostly consisted of silicate iron and nickel. The core does not make up a large portion of the planet, yet it does make up about 0.5 Earth masses.

Rings of UranusEdit

The rings of Uranus are the most complex set of rings in the entire gas giant planet system. The rings were discovered by James L. Eillot, Douglas J. Mink, and Edward W. Dunham on March 10, 1977. There are thirteen identified rings of Uranus. Nine were found the following year of 1978. Eight years later, two more were discovered by Voyager 2, and the final two were found by the Hubble Space Telescope between the years of 2003 and 2005. The rings are composed of mostly water ice. The rings are believed to young compared to other celestial features, being only roughly 600 million years old.

AtmosphereEdit

The atmosphere of Uranus consists of more than 83% hydrogen. The rest is made up of different gases such as helium and methane.

Orbit and RotationEdit

Uranus makes one orbit around the Sun every 84 Earth years since it is more than 3 billion kilometers from the Sun.

Uranus makes one rotation on its axis in seventeen Earth hours. In the northern poles of Uranus, the speed of its winds increase as the planet rotates. The poles can rotate in fourteen hours.

PicturesEdit

Planets Mercury • Venus • Earth • Mars • Jupiter • Saturn • Uranus • Neptune Dwarf Planets Pluto • Ceres • Haumea • Eris • Makemake • Sedna