Quick Facts Mythology Axis Composition Clouds Rings Magnetic Field

The Magician

Quick Facts:
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and the third largest.
Uranus' atmosphere is about 83% hydrogen, 15% helium and 2% methane.
Uranus' blue color is the result of absorption of red light by methane in the upper atmosphere.
It is believed that early in the solar systems history Uranus collided with a large planet size rock.
Distance from the Sun: 2,870,990,000 km (1,782,000,000 miles or 19.218 AU)
Period of Revolution: 84.01 years
Diameter: 51,118 km (29,200 miles)
Mass: 8.683e25 kg
Satellites: 17- Cordelia, Ophelia, Bianca, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, Belinda, Puck, Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon, Caliban, and Sycorax.

Mythology:
Uranus is the ancient Greek deity of the Heavens, the earliest supreme god. Uranus was the son and mate of Gaia the father of Cronus (Saturn), the Cyclopes and the Titans (predecessors of the Olympian gods).

Axis:
Most of the planets spin on an axis nearly perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic, but Uranus' axis is almost parallel to the ecliptic. At the time of Voyager 2's passage, Uranus' south pole was pointed almost directly at the Sun. This results in the odd fact that Uranus' polar regions receive more energy input from the Sun than do its equatorial regions, yet Uranus is still hotter at its equator than at its poles.

Composition:
Uranus is composed primarily of rock and various ices, with only about 15% hydrogen and a little helium. Uranus' core is in many ways similar to the cores of Jupiter and Saturn minus the massive liquid metallic hydrogen surrounding the cores. It also appears that Uranus does not have a rocky core like Jupiter and Saturn but rather that its material is more or less uniformly distributed.

Clouds:
Uranus has bands of clouds that blow around  rapidly. But they are extremely faint, visible only with radical image enhancement of the Voyager 2. Recent observations with HST show larger and more pronounced streaks. The speculation is that the difference is due to seasonal effects.

Rings:
Like the other gas planets, Uranus has rings. Like Jupiter's, they are very dark but like Saturn's composed of fairly large particles ranging up to 10 meters in diameter in addition to fine dust. There are 11 known rings, all very faint; the brightest is known as the Epsilon ring. The Uranus' rings were the first after Saturn's to be discovered.

Magnetic Field:
Uranus' magnetic field is odd in that it is not centered on the center of the planet and is tilted almost 60 degrees with respect to the axis of rotation. It is probably generated by motion at relatively shallow depths within Uranus.