Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun. It is the third largest planet in the solar system. William Herschel, a British astronomer, discovered it in 1781. In 1977, the first nine rings of Uranus were discovered.

    The atmosphere of Uranus is composed mostly of hydrogen, helium, and methane. The methane gives it the blue-green color. 

     The internal structure of Uranus is similar to that of Neptune.  It is less active, though.  It has the mass of one to two Earths. 

      Uranus’s rings are very different from the rings of Jupiter and Saturn. The outermost ring is composed mostly of ice boulders several feet across, with fine dust spread throughout the ring system.

     Uranus is tilted on its side, with one pole and then the other facing the Sun. The poles are hotter than the equator.  This produces very strange weather storms.                                                        

     Fast Facts

• Uranus and Neptune both consist of a ball helium and hydrogen gases, with a core of rock surrounded by ice in the middle.

• The length of a day on Uranus is 7 hours and 14 min.
   

• Uranus has at least 22 moons, including the two largest moons, Titania and Oberon.