Ian
priscilla 1Uranus
June 13th 2011 02:25
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It has the third-largest planetary radius and fourth-largest planetary mass in the Solar System. It is named after the ancient Greek deity of the sky Uranus, the father of Cronus (Saturn) and grandfather of Zeus (Jupiter). Though it is visible to the naked eye like the five classical planets, it was never recognized as a planet by ancient observers because of its dimness and slow orbit. Sir William Herschel announced its discovery on March 13, 1781, expanding the known boundaries of the Solar System for the first time in modern history. Uranus was also the first planet discovered with a telescope.
his image was taken in 2007 by the Hubble Space Telescope. It shows the cloud bands, rings and moons of the planet. These are the planet's four major rings and 10 of its many known satellites. The five main satellites of Uranus are called Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon.
Uranus is similar in composition to Neptune, and both are of different chemical composition than the larger gas giants Jupiter and Saturn. As such, astronomers sometimes place them in a separate category, the "ice giants". Uranus's atmosphere, while similar to Jupiter and Saturn's in its primary composition of hydrogen and helium, contains more "ices" such as water, ammonia and methane, along with traces of hydrocarbons. It is the coldest planetary atmosphere in the Solar System, with a minimum temperature of 49 K (–224 °C). It has a complex, layered cloud structure, with water thought to make up the lowest clouds, and methane thought to make up the uppermost layer of clouds. In contrast the interior of Uranus is mainly composed of ices and rock.
The moon Miranda is named for the daughter of Prospero in "The Tempest.
Like the other giant planets, Uranus has a ring system, a magnetosphere, and numerous moons. The Uranian system has a unique configuration among the planets because its axis of rotation is tilted sideways, nearly into the plane of its revolution about the Sun. As such, its north and south poles lie where most other planets have their equators. Seen from Earth, Uranus's rings can sometimes appear to circle the planet like an archery target and its moons revolve around it like the hands of a clock, though in 2007 and 2008 the rings appeared edge-on. In 1986, images from Voyager 2 showed Uranus as a virtually featureless planet in visible light without the cloud bands or storms associated with the other giants. However, terrestrial observers have seen signs of seasonal change and increased weather activity in recent years as Uranus approached its equinox. The wind speeds on Uranus can reach 250 meters per second (900 km/h, 560 mph).
In 2006, the Hubble Space Telescope caught a rare view of an eclipse on Uranus.
As seen on the Mother Nature Network above and below are some images and information about Uranus.
This photo, taken in 1986, was the final image released by NASA of Uranus before the spacecraft began its journey to Neptune.
*This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article for Uranus.
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