UranusBy Alexya, Sean and Kris Pacheco.

Discovery of UranusDiscovered by John Flamsteed in 1690, however, was not reconized as a planet.

Sir William Herscrel, 1781, realized it was a planet named it “The Georian Sidus” (The

Georgion Planet) In honor of King George the third of England.

The name ‘Uranus’ was first proposed by German astronomer Johann Elert Bode in

order for it to be in conformity with the other planets.

‘Uranus’ was not commonly used until 1850.

NAME ORIGIONΟυρανος or OuranosOuranos was the father to the Greek titans

and husband of Gara.The name Ouranos, translated in modern

English as Uranus, means “The Heavens.”

Usual FactsIt’s diameter is

51,120 km.Density is 13

g/cm^2 or 24 % Surface Gravity is

91% of Earth surface gravity.

Third largest planetNearly 3 billion

kilometers from the sun

Has 27 moons12 thin rings

Name Discovery Date Discoverer Distance from Uranus (103 km) Orbital Period (days) Mass (1020 kg) Radius (km)

Miranda (UV) 1948 G. Kuiper 129.39 1.413479 0.66 240 x 234.2 x 232.9Ariel (UI) 1851 W. Lassel 191.02 2.520379 13.5 581.1 x 577.9 x 577.7Umbriel (UII) 1851 W. Lassel 266.30 4.144177 11.7 584.7Titania (UIII) 1787 W. Herschel 435.91 8.705872 35.2 788.9Oberon (UIV) 1787 W. Herschel 583.52 13.463239 30.1 761.4

Cordelia (UVI, S/1986 U7) 1986 Voyager 2 49.77 0.335034   20

Ophelia (UVII, S/1986 U8) 1986 Voyager 2 53.79 0.376400   21

Bianca (UVIII, S/1986 U9) 1986 Voyager 2 59.17 0.434579   27

Cressida (UIX, S/1986 U3) 1986 Voyager 2 61.78 0.463570   40

Desdemona (UX, S/1986 U6) 1986 Voyager 2 62.68 0.473650   32

Juliet (UXI, S/1986 U2) 1986 Voyager 2 64.35 0.493065   47

Portia (UXII, S/1986 U1) 1986 Voyager 2 66.09 0.513196   68

Rosalind (UXIII, S/1986 U4) 1986 Voyager 2 69.94 0.558460   36

Cupid (S/2003 U2) 2003   74.8 0.618   12

Belinda (UXIV, S/1986 U5) 1986 Voyager 2 75.26 0.623527   40

Puck (UXV, S/1985 U1) 1985 Voyager 2 86.01 0.761833   81

Mab (S/2003 U1) 2003   97.7 0.923   16

Caliban (UXVI, S/1997 U1) 1997 Kavelaars, Gladman, Holman, et. Al 7230 579.5*   48

Stephano (UXX, S/1999 U2) 1999 Kavelaars, Gladman, Holman, et. Al 8002 676.5*   10

Sycorax (UXVII, S/1997 U2) 1997 Kavelaars, Gladman, Holman, et. Al 12,179 1283.4*   95

Margaret (UXXIII, S/2003 U3) 2003   14,345 1694.8   6

Prospero (UXVIII, S/1999 U3) 1999 Kavelaars, Gladman, Holman, et. Al 16,418 1992.8*   15

Setebos (UXIX, S/2001) 1999 Kavelaars, Gladman, Holman, et. Al 17,459 2202.3*   15

Trinculo (UXXI, S/2001 U1) 2001   8571 758.1*   5

S/1986 U10 1986   76.4 0.638   40S/2001 U2 2001   21,000 2823.4*   6S/2001 U3 2001   4280 266.6*   6

* This indicates that the moon orbits in a retrograde - the opposite direction to the planet's spin - motion.

The Atmosphere.Uranus’ atmosphere is about 83% hydrogen,

15% helium and 2% methane.Like other gas planets, Uranus has bands of

clouds that blow around rapidly. However, they are extremely faint, visible only with radical image enhancement.

It’s blue color is the result of absorption of red light by methane in the upper atmosphere.

There are many colored bands like Jupiter’s but they are hidden from view by the overlaying methane layer.

The RingsUranu’s rings are very dark and are composed

of fairly large particles ranging up to 10 meters in diameter.

In addition to fine dust, there are 13 known rings, all very faint; the brightest is known as

the Epsilon ring.

RotationThe axis of Uranus’ rotation is tilted more relative to the pole of

its orbit than that of any other planet, differing 97.7 degrees if the rotational direction of the planet is used to Celine its North pole, or by 82.2 degrees if the North side of our orbit is used to

define the North Pole.Due to the tilt, its works so that one pole or the other is usually

pointed towards the Sun.A day at the North Pole lasts half of a Uranian year- 84 Earth

years.Uranus rotates once every 17 hours, 14 minutes, and 12 seconds

as determined from the rate of rotation of it’s magnetic field.The rotation period given above, which is the side period of rotation of the planet, differs by about one second from the

length of its day; due to Uranus’ orbital moon during one rotation it has shorter days than its rotation period.

Fin