![]() 5 times the mass of Earth and one of the least dense objects in our Solar System.Approximately 31,518 miles in diameter.Average distance 1.784 billion miles away from the Sun.Takes 17 hours to rotate on its axis and orbits the Sun once every 84 years.Averages 7 years to pass through each constellation of the zodiac.The coldest temperature found in Uranus' lower atmosphere is a frigid minus 371 degrees F.Rotates east to west but is unique in that it rotates on its side with an axial tilt of 98 degrees.Shines at magnitude 5.7, which places it at the limited range of naked eye visibility from a dark sky site.Īccording to NASA, 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.At last count, Uranus has 27 moons, which are named after characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.Uranus’ mantle is composed of water, methane, and ammonia fluids above a small core of ice and rock.Its atmosphere is made of hydrogen and helium like Jupiter’s and Saturn’s, but also contains methane. Methane gas makes Uranus appear aqua-blue. Its rocky core is proportionally larger than the gas it contains-unlike Jupiter and Saturn, which are composed mostly of hydrogen and helium and have small cores of ice and rock. This is why Uranus is now called an ice giant instead of a gas giant. Uranus has 13 rings, many of which are thin and dark with some wide separations.Its outer rings are surprisingly very bright and colorful. ![]() Its red ring may consist of particles reflecting red light or may possibly be composed of iron. NASA’s Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to visit Uranus, which it did back in 1986.A recently discovered outermost ring is bright blue in color. The spacecraft came within 50,600 miles of the planet's cloud tops, discovered 10 new moons, two new rings, and a magnetic field stronger than Saturn’s. Uranus reaches opposition on November 4.Uranus and Mars in conjunction on January 21Įvening: From November 4 to December 31 (end of calendar year).It can be spotted in a good pair of binoculars or telescope as a tiny aqua colored dot and will be visible in the morning and evening skies during these periods: Uranus will spend all of 2021 in the constellation Aries and will have a peak magnitude of +5.7. This is the best time to view and image the planet. Neptune is a dark, cold, and extremely windy world that is very similar to Uranus. It is known as the second blue planet after Earth, the eighth planet from the Sun, and the fourth-largest planet in our Solar System. Neptune is now the most distant outermost planet following Pluto’s reclassification as a dwarf planet. It is the only planet in the Solar System not visible to the unaided eye. Neptune was discovered in 1846, the first planet discovered after mathematical calculations were used to predict its approximate location.
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