URANUS

                                                                                   God of the sky

Last updated: 23/05/2019

Uranus is the 7th planet from the Sun. It is best known for its rotation when orbiting the Sun. Uranus orbits the Sun like a rolling ball. So it rotates on its side. 

It was discovered in 1781 by William Herschel. It was first thought to be a comet but later confirmed a planet. Uranus currently has 27 discovered Moons and there might be more. Uranus' Moons are named after characters created by William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. The planet itself is named after the god of the sky in Greek mythology. He is also the father of Saturn and the grandfather of Jupiter. William Herschel, the discoverer of Uranus, tried to name the planet the Georgium Sidus, in honor of King George III of England, but they said no. Johann Bode proposed Uranus and it was accepted. Uranus is also the only planet in the Solar System to be named after a Greek god. Uranus is sometimes referred to as an Ice Giant. Uranus was the first planet discovered in the modern age. Other planets were known to ancient people like the Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans. Uranus and Neptune can be seen with the visible eye but due to its dimness and slow orbit, it wasn't recognized as a planet by ancient people.

Uranus is also the second least dense planet in the Solar System after Saturn and before Neptune. 

It takes Uranus 84 Earth years to make one full trip around the Sun. That is a pretty long time but is nothing compared to other dwarf planets which can take 250 years. And if the hypothetical planet, Planet X, is real, it may take 10,000 to 20,000 years to make one trip around the Sun!

Voyager 2 was the first spacecraft to fly by Uranus in January 1986.

Type- Ice Giant

Made of- Water, methane, and ammonia fluids.

Temperature- (-224 C) minimum

Diameter- 50,724

Mass- 8.681 x 10^25 kg

Distance from Sun- 2.871 billion km

Distance from Earth- 2.6 billion km