Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun at 2 870 990 000 km.
It is the third largest planet (by diameter), it is larger in diameter than
Neptune but smaller in mass.
Uranus was the first planet discovered in modern times by William Herschel
on 13 march 1781. It had been seen before but was dismissed as just another
star, the earliest recorded by John Flamsteed in 1690 who catalogued it as
34 Tauri.
Herschel named it Georgium Sidus in honour of King George 3rd.
The name Uranus was first proposed by Bode in accordance with the other planetary
names from ancient mythology, and became common use in the 1850's.
Like the other gas planets, it has bands of clouds that blow around rapidly,
but these are extremely faint. They are hidden by the blue colour we see,
which is the result of absorbtion of red light by methane in the upper atmosphere.
Uranus has been visited by only one spacecraft Voyager 2
on 24 jan 1986
Recently discovered much more distant moons, give Uranus the most known moons of any of the other planets.
Unlike the other bodies in our solar system, Uranus' moons are named from the writings of Shakespeare and Pope.
DISCOVERER
VOYAGER 2
VOYAGER 2
VOYAGER 2
VOYAGER 2
VOYAGER 2
VOYAGER 2
VOYAGER 2
VOYAGER 2
VOYAGER 2
KARKOSCHKA
VOYAGER 2
KUIPER
LASSELL
LASSELL
HERSCHEL
HERSCHEL
GLADMAN
GLADMAN
NICHOLSON
HOLMAN
KAVELAARS
DATE
1986
1986
1986
1986
1986
1986
1986
1986
1986
1999
1985
1948
1851
1851
1787
1787
1997
1999
1997
1999
1999
DISTANCE from URANUS/km
50 000
54 000
59 000
62 000
63 000
64 000
66 000
70 000
75 000
76 000
86 000
130 000
191 000
266 000
436 000
583 000
7 169 000
7 948 000
12 213 000
16 568 000
17 681 000
MOON
CORDELIA
OPHELIA
BIANCA
CRESSIDA
DESDEMONA
JULIET
PORTIA
ROSALIND
BELINDA
1986U10
PUCK
MIRANDA
ARIEL
UMBRIEL
TITANIA
OBERON
CALIBAN
STEPHANO
SYCORAX
PROSPERO
SETEBOS
