Like the other gas giants, Uranus has an atmosphere composed of mostly hydrogen, followed by helium and a little methane. What is very interesting about Uranus is that the planet has an enormous 98 degree tilt on its axis.
Basically, it is laying on its side with the poles receiving the direct sunlight. This makes for extreme seasons and when the Sun rises at one of the poles, that pole will receive direct sunlight for 42 years. Therefore seasonal variations are immense, in that as the dark side of the planet comes out of its 40 plus year slumber, the frozen atmosphere heats up dramatically causing violent storms.
Curiously though, Uranus is still warmer at its equator than the poles, even though the poles receive the direct sunlight with a very low sun angle over the equatorial region. It is not well understood why. In addition, unlike the other gas giants, Uranus does not radiate more heat than it receives. This suggests that the planet may have a cold interior, lacking an internal heat source.
A side note: Uranus has a very narrow, complex ring system that appears to be fragile in that it wobbles. The other gas giants do not have "wobbly" rings. Uranus is the last planet in our solar system which can be seen by the naked eye. However one has to have an extremely dark sky and good eye sight to spot Uranus without the aid of binoculars. Looking in the proper location, Uranus can be easily found through a pair of standard binoculars.
Average distance from Sun: Average distance from the center of a planet to the center of the Sun. Perihelion: The point in a planet's orbit closest to the Sun. The ice giant is surrounded by 13 faint rings and 27 small moons as it rotates at a nearly degree angle from the plane of its orbit. This unique tilt makes Uranus appear to spin on its side, orbiting the Sun like a rolling ball. The first planet found with the aid of a telescope, Uranus was discovered in by astronomer William Herschel, although he originally thought it was either a comet or a star.
It was two years later that the object was universally accepted as a new planet, in part because of observations by astronomer Johann Elert Bode. Instead, the planet was named for Uranus, the Greek god of the sky, as suggested by Johann Bode.
Uranus' environment is not conducive to life as we know it. The temperatures, pressures, and materials that characterize this planet are most likely too extreme and volatile for organisms to adapt to. With a radius of 15, If Earth was the size of a nickel, Uranus would be about as big as a softball. From an average distance of 1.
One astronomical unit abbreviated as AU , is the distance from the Sun to Earth. From this distance, it takes sunlight 2 hours and 40 minutes to travel from the Sun to Uranus.
One day on Uranus takes about 17 hours the time it takes for Uranus to rotate or spin once. And Uranus makes a complete orbit around the Sun a year in Uranian time in about 84 Earth years 30, Earth days. Uranus is the only planet whose equator is nearly at a right angle to its orbit, with a tilt of This unique tilt causes the most extreme seasons in the solar system.
For nearly a quarter of each Uranian year, the Sun shines directly over each pole, plunging the other half of the planet into a year-long, dark winter. Uranus is also one of just two planets that rotate in the opposite direction than most of the planets Venus is the other one , from east to west. Uranus has 27 known moons. While most of the satellites orbiting other planets take their names from Greek or Roman mythology, Uranus' moons are unique in being named for characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.
Scientists define the surface as the region where the atmospheric pressure exceeds one bar, the pressure found on Earth at sea level. Just above the "surface" of Uranus lies the troposphere, where the atmosphere is the densest.
The temperature ranges from minus degrees Fahrenheit minus degrees Celsius to minus F minus C , with the upper regions being the coldest. This makes the atmosphere of Uranus the coldest in the solar system. Within the troposphere are layers of clouds — water clouds at the lowest pressures, with ammonium hydrosulfide clouds above them. Ammonia and hydrogen sulfide clouds come next. Finally, thin methane clouds lay on the top. The troposphere extends 30 miles 50 kilometers from the surface of the planet.
Radiation from the sun and from space heats the stratosphere of Uranus from minus F minus C to minus F minus C. The stratosphere contains ethane smog, which may contribute to the planet's dull appearance. Acetylene and methane are also present. These hazes help warm the stratosphere. Hydrocarbons are less abundant in the atmosphere of Uranus than they are of other giant planets, however.
The stratosphere reaches almost 2, miles km above Uranus. The thermosphere and corona of Uranus reach temperatures of 1, F C , although scientists are unsure as to the reason.
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Hydrogen sulfide, the gas that gives rotten eggs their distinctive odor, has been verified as one of the key components of clouds at Uranus.
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