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Uranus
Uranus
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Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun
and the third-largest and fourth most
massive planet in the Solar System. It is
named after the ancient Greek deity of the
sky (Uranus), the father of Kronos (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.
 Uranus
has a mean distance from
the Sun of 2.87 billion kilometers
(1.78 billion miles). It rotates
about its axis once every 17
hours 14 minutes. Uranus has at
least 22 moons.
The atmosphere of Uranus is composed of 83%
hydrogen, 15% helium, 2% methane and small
amounts of acetylene and other hydrocarbons.
Methane in the upper atmosphere absorbs red
light, giving Uranus its blue-green color. The
atmosphere is arranged into clouds running at
constant latitudes, similar to the orientation of the
more vivid latitudinal bands seen on Jupiter and
Saturn.
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Winds at mid-latitudes on Uranus blow
in the direction of the planet's rotation.
These winds blow at velocities of 40 to
160 meters per second (90 to 360 miles per
hour). Radio science experiments found
winds of about 100 meters per second
blowing in the opposite direction at the
equator.
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Uranus is a giant ball of gas and liquid.
Its diameter at the equator is 31,763
miles (51,118 kilometers), over four
times that of Earth. The surface of
Uranus consists of blue-green clouds
made up of tiny crystals of methane.
The crystals have frozen out of the
planet's atmosphere. Far below the
visible clouds are probably thicker
cloud layers made up of liquid water
and crystals of ammonia ice.
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Deeper still -- about 4,700 miles (7,500
kilometers) below the visible cloud tops -may be an ocean of liquid water containing
dissolved ammonia. At the very center of
the planet may be a rocky core about the
size of Earth. Scientists doubt Uranus has
any form of life.
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Uranus travels around the sun in an
elliptical (oval-shaped) orbit, which it
completes in 30,685 Earth days, or just
over 84 Earth years. As it orbits the sun,
Uranus also rotates on its axis, an
imaginary line through its center. The
planet's interior (ocean and core) takes 17
hours 14 minutes to spin around once on
its axis. However, much of the atmosphere
rotates faster than that.

The fastest winds on Uranus, measured
about two-thirds of the way from the
equator to the south pole, blow at about
450 miles per hour (720 kilometers per
hour). Thus, this area toward the south
pole makes one complete rotation every
14 hours.
 Uranus
is the farthest planet
that can be seen without a
telescope. Its average distance
from the sun is about
1,784,860,000 miles
(2,872,460,000 kilometers), a
distance that takes light about 2
hours 40 minutes to travel.

 Uranus
is the planet tipped on its
side. Uranus spins more like a
barrel on its side than a top. This
strange tilt may be the result of a
collision with another body that
tipped Uranus on its side.
Uranus
Temperature: Uranus is very cold — its
average temperature is
–350° F (–210° C).
 Uranus’ 5 biggest planets: Ariel, Umbriel,
Titania, Oberon, and Miranda. There are
at least 22 smaller moons.

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Uranus is similar in composition to
Neptune, and both have different
compositions from those of 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's and Saturn's in being composed
primarily of hydrogen and helium, contains
a higher proportion of "ices" such as
water, ammonia and methane, along with
the usual traces of hydrocarbons
TRIVIA
QUESTION
1.
What are the 5 biggest
moons of URANUS?
ANSWER
Ariel,
Umbriel,
Titania, Oberon,
and Miranda
QUESTION
What is the order of
Uranus from the
sun?
ANSWER
seventh
QUESTION
What
percent is
Uranus’ hydrogen?
ANSWER
83%
Reference
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http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/uranus_worldbo
ok.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus
http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a
&id=1226
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?
Object=Uranus
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/uranus.htm
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_a
dv_prop=image&fr=yfp-t-501&va=uranus&sz=