Uranus is the first planet to be discovered in modern history, with the use of a telescope. It was discovered in 1781 by Sir William Herschel.- Herschel tried unsuccessfully to name the planet after King George III but ultimately it was named Uranus, for the Greek god of the heavens.
- Uranus is the 7th planet from the Sun, sitting between Saturn and Neptune.
- The 4 gas giants are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. These 4 planets are sometimes referred to as the Jovian or outer planets.
- Uranus is not a terrestrial planet.
- If the Sun were hollow nearly 22,000 planets the size of Uranus would fit inside.
- The Earth's gravity is measured as 1 unit of gravity. The gravity on all other planets is taken as a multiple of Earth's.
- Even though Uranus is much larger than the Earth its gravity is only 0.91 times that of Earth.
- A 100 lb person would weigh only 91 lbs on Uranus.
- A day on Uranus is 17.25 hours, shorter than a day on Earth.
- A year on Uranus is 84 Earth years long.
- The distance from the Sun to the Earth is 1 AU and is used to measure distance in our Solar System. Uranus sits at an average of 19.2 AU from the Sun, or 19.2 times farther from the Sun than the Earth.
- It takes the light from the sun almost 160 minutes, over 2.5 hours, to reach Uranus.
- Like Venus, Uranus rotates in a clockwise motion or from East to West - the opposite of Earth. However, unlike any other planet in our Solar System, it is tilted almost completely on its side, so that it spins horizontally. So its North Pole and South Poles lie roughly where the equator is on Earth.
- Uranus and Venus are the only two planets in our Solar System to spin in a clockwise direction.
- Uranus has 27 confirmed moons but is thought to have more.
- Uranus has 13 known rings.
- The rings were first discovered in 1977.
- Uranus's rings are mostly made of ice and large chunks of rocky debris.
- Uranus's atmosphere is similar to Jupiter's in that it is primarily composed of hydrogen and helium but it also contains small amounts of methane and traces of water and ammonia "ices".
- Because of these "ices" Uranus is referred to as one of the two ice giants in our Solar System - the other ice giant is Neptune.
- The methane "ices" in the outermost regions are partly responsible for the planet's blue appearance.
- Uranus, like Neptune, has active and visible weather patterns and for a time even had a Great Dark Spot, like those seen on Neptune.
- Uranus' outer atmosphere reaches temperatures of -224C (-371 °F) making it the coldest planet in the Solar System.
