Uranus

Uranus
Number of Sattelites	28
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	31,518 miles; 50,724 Kilometers
Volume	68,334,355,695,584 Cubic Kilometers (16,394,283,809,415 Cubic Miles)
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 the first planet to be discovered by a telescope, and is famous for rotating completely on its side.

Formation[]

Uranus formed in the outer edges of the Solar Nebula and didn't form from a rocky clump core (unlike the other planets) because of its distance from the Sun, only leaving it a gaseous planet.

Uranus was the furthest planet from the Sun until 4.4 billion years ago when Jupiter and Saturn's gravity distorted the orbit of Neptune and Pluto, propelling them back much further than Uranus.

Internal Structure[]

Uranus's internal structure in its core makes it the least massive of all the gas giants, even lighter than Saturn.

Most of Uranus's atmosphere is composed of methane and ammonia, and beneath it lays multiple layers of ice.

Uranus's core is relatively small compared to that of the other Jovians, and only has a mass of 0.55 Earth masses. It is mostly composed silicate iron, nickel, and traces of water and rock. The core does not make a large portion of the planet.

Rings of Uranus[]

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.

Atmosphere[]

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 Rotation[]

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-rotation 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.

Uranus rotates on its sides.