Uranus, the seventh
planet from the sun, is one of the four largest planets. Its brightness
is the equivalent of a sixth degree magnitude star, and its volume is 67
times that of the Earth. Hydrogen, Helium, and a small percentage of methane
make up its atmosphere. It was discovered in 1781 by accident, by
British astronomer Sir William Herschel. Herschel had wanted to name
the planet Georgium Sidius(Star of George) in honor of King George II of
Great Britain. Later its name was changed to Herschel in honor of
its discoverer, and finally German astronomer Johann Elert Bode named it
Uranus, and that has been its official name since.
 Because of its size and distance, it takes Uranus 84 years for it to orbit around the sun, but only 17 hours and 15 minutes for it to rotate on its axis. In 1977, U.S astronomer James L. Elliot discovered five rings around Uranus' equator while he was studying a star behind the planet. He named the rings Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epilson(starting from inside to out). Four more were discovered when Voyager 2 flew by in January 1986. Uranus has 15 moons. IT's two largest are Obieron and Titania discovered by Herschel in 1787. Two others, Umbriel and Ariel were discovered in 1851 by British astronomer William Lassil, and Miranda was discovered by U.S Astronomer Gerard Peter Kuiper in 1948.  |
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