Planet Uranus

Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun
Third largest diameter of planets in solar system

The ice giant is surrounded by 13 faint rings and 28 small moons.
Uranus' moons are unique in being named for characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.

Uranus was the first planet found using a telescope.

It was discovered in 1781 by astronomer William Herschel. He thought it was either a comet or a star.
Two years later that the object was universally accepted as a new planet, because of observations by astronomer Johann Elert Bode.

Planet was named for Uranus, the Greek god of the sky, as suggested by Johann Bode.

Equatorial diameter = 51,118 kilometers
Uranus is four times wider than Earth.

It takes sunlight 2 hours and 40 minutes to travel from the Sun to Uranus

One day on Uranus takes about 17 hours.

Uranus & Venus are two planets that rotate in the opposite direction than most of the planets.

Uranus is the only planet whose equator is nearly at a right angle to its orbit, with a tilt of 97.77 degrees.

Uranus is one of two ice giants in the outer solar system (the other is Neptune).

Uranus gets its blue-green color from methane gas in the atmosphere

As an ice giant, Uranus doesn’t have a true surface. The planet is mostly swirling fluids. While a spacecraft would have nowhere to land on Uranus, it wouldn’t be able to fly through its atmosphere unscathed either. The extreme pressures and temperatures would destroy a metal spacecraft.

Uranus' atmosphere is mostly hydrogen and helium, with a small amount of methane and traces of water and ammonia. The methane gives Uranus its signature blue color.

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Uranus' unique sideways rotation makes for weird seasons. The planet's north pole experiences 21 years of nighttime in winter, 21 years of daytime in summer and 42 years of day and night in the spring and fall.