Sun|Trek Adventures Solar Surface Hot Solar Atmosphere Magnetic Sun Flowing from the Sun
Sun Earth Connection Solar Spacecraft Earth and Beyond The Sun as a Star
  Earth and beyond
Energy
Spinning and orbiting Earth
spinning and orbiting EarthOur Moon
Our Solar System
Up Arrow
  our solar system
Down Arrow
  what if...?
  Mercury
  Venus
  Earth
  Mars
  Asteroids
  Jupiter
  Saturn
  Uranus
  Neptune
  Pluto
  comets and meteors

Uranus

 

Uranus - Unique facts:

 

Like all the planets, Uranus spins on its axis.

 

The strange thing about Uranus is that its axis leans over at an angle of about 98°.

 

This means that, when viewed from Earth, Uranus appears to be rotating on its side!

 

Image of the planet Uranus

 

Let's face it, Uranus is a name that always causes a giggle or two because of the way it can be pronounced.

 

Who on Earth chose that name?! We can blame the planet's discoverer, William Herschel, for that one. Maybe in his day it was pronounced Uran-us (as polite people are supposed to these days). Most kids prefer the Ur-anus version!

 

Uranus was the supreme Greek god - the boss.

 

Vital statistics!

7th nearest planet to the Sun

 

4th largest planet

Diameter

Mass

Distance from Sun

Orbital time

Rotation period days

Major moons

51,118 km

8.68 x 1025kg

2,871 million km

84 Earth years

0.72 Earth days

21

 

How does that compare with the Earth?

Diameter

4.0 the diameter of the Earth

Mass

 

14.5 the mass of the Earth

Distance from Sun

 

19.2 the distance of the Earth from the Sun

Orbit time

 

Uranus takes 84 Earth years to orbit the Sun

 

back to top

 
 
 

Sun|trek homepage | Sun|trek Adventures | Solar Surface & Below | Hot Solar Atmosphere | Magnetic Sun | Flowing From The Sun

Sun/Earth Connection | Solar Spacecraft | Earth & Beyond | The Sun our Star | Factary | Gallery | Hot News | Contact Us