Basic Facts about Uranus and History of its Space Exploration Missions

When observed though a telescope, Uranus looks like a greenish-blue space object, which is surrounded by five small satellites. Although some astronomers report that they have seen faint terrain spots on Uranus, there is no photograph to confirm it yet. Some of the latest high quality images of this ice giant planet were made in 1970, when scientists used a balloon probe to raise a telescope to the height of over 24,000 meters above the ground.

Here are some other incredible facts everyone should remember about this planet.


Uranus Explained: 7 Interesting Facts about the Ice Giant Planet

#1. Planet size

Uranus is an "ice giant" planet located in the Solar System, in 7th place, if you count from the Sun. Uranus takes the third place in the list of planets by their size and is only exceeded by Jupiter and Saturn, the gas giant planets.

#2. Axial tilt

The unusual axial tilt is the main difference of Uranus from other planets in the Solar System. Due to the axial tilt of 97.77°, the Sun radiation can hit both the North and the South Pole of Uranus, depending on the season. This ice giant planet has its own magnetic field, 27 natural satellites and a ring system, similar to that of Saturn’s but much fainter, if you observe from Earth.

#3. Atmosphere of Uranus

Being mainly composed of large amounts of hydrogen, helium, methane and hydrocarbon, the atmosphere of Uranus is not suitable for human life. The clouds containing the particles of ammonia, hydrogen and ice are known to form in the planet’s atmosphere. Due to the gravity, the clouds get a layered structure, where the top layer is thought to be made up methane and ice – the lowest layers.

#4. Temperature record

The title of the planet with the coldest weather in the Solar System belongs to Uranus. The lowest temperature that was recorded on Uranus was 49 K (−224.2 °C).

#5. Planet exploration

Because of its distant location in relation to the Earth, today Uranus isn’t as explored as its closest neighbors. As on now, the only pictures of the planet were obtained by the Voyager 2 spacecraft. The close-up pictures were taken back 1986 in, when this spacecraft performed a brief fly-by. Unfortunately, the pictures are not detailed enough for scientists to be able to study planet’s terrain or the constituents of the atmosphere.

Since nowadays scientists don’t have the financial or technical opportunity to study the planet close-by, they are using powerful telescopes to analyze its special characteristics. One of such characteristics was spotted right away: it’s the special seasonal division, which greatly differs from then of Earth’s.

#. Ring system

Uranus belongs to a very short list of planets that possess a ring system. Although the planet was discovered by William Herschel back in 1781, it took almost extra 200 years to notice the planet’s right system.

They were first observed by astronomers in 1977. Researchers came to a conclusion that the ring system has a black color and does not reflect any light; that is why it took so long to notice it. The system consists of 13 rings, they are composed by ice elements, ranging from just a few centimeters to a few kilometers in size. The last two rings of Uranus have red and blue particles that are constantly orbiting the planet.

#. Weather changes

2004 was the year, when scientists noticed drastic weather changes on Uranus. It was the year, when record wind speeds of up to 229 meters per second were recorded, alongside constant storms. This unusual phenomenon was later named the "Fourth of July fireworks".

#. Observations though a telescope

Although Uranus was discovered with the help of a telescope, this planet sometimes is bright enough to be visible to the naked eye. But in order to observe this planet from the Earth, without any additional equipment, one should, first of all, know where to look and, second of all, wait for a clear moonless night. The brightness of Uranus can be compared to some of the faintest stars that can still be distinguished with the naked eye and prior to Herschel’s discovery, Uranus was labeled as a star in least 20 star charts in different countries of the world.

Other quick facts about planet Uranus:

- One year on Uranus lasts about 84 Earth years.

- A day on this planet Uranus lasts about 17 hours.

- By mass, Uranium is the third biggest planet in the Solar System.

- The density of Uranus is equal to 1.27 g/cm3. So it’s the second planet, after Saturn, by density.

- The wind speed over the ring system can reach up to 230 meters per second.

- Anyone, who enjoys space exploration, can see Uranus though a telescope, provided the sky is dark and the weather is clear.

- All of Uranian satellites are named after the characters in the written works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.

- Scientists believe that tiled rotation axis of the planed is a result of a collision with large cosmic body.

- The satellites are mainly made up by ice and rock.

- The surface of Uranus regularly suffers from giant storms, which cover areas, as big as the North America.

- There’s a scientific theory that states that the rings of Uranus are very young. As a result, they are very dark and rather narrow.

- Voyager - 2 spacecraft has left the Earth in 1977 but reached Uranus only 9 years later, in 1977 having covered the distance of 81,000 km. The next scheduled flight to Uranus is expected to happen in 2020.

- The total mass of Uranus exceeds the mass of the Earth by almost 15 times.

- The smallest Uranian satellite is Miranda.

- One of the main mysteries of this planet is its low heat exchange. The bigger planets are known to radiate 2.5 times more heat than they receive from the Sun.

Image credits:

1) www.thinglink.com/scene/614567285268414465