25+ Interesting Facts About Uranus

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  1. Due to its large size and icy surface (due to the presence of water, methane, and ammonia), Uranus is known as the “Ice Giant.” It is one of the two ice giant planets along with Neptune.
  2. Uranus and Neptune are two planets in the solar system that experience diamond rain. Researchers have confirmed this theory in the lab. (Source)
  3. Uranus is one of the two planets (along with Venus) that spin on their axis from east to west. All the other planets rotate from west to east. (Source)
  4. The clouds in the upper atmosphere of Uranus are mainly composed of hydrogen sulfide. It is the reason that the planet smells like rotten eggs. (Source)
  5. Neptune is farther from the sun than Uranus, but Uranus has the coldest atmosphere among all the planets in the solar system. The temperature at the troposphere of Uranus is between -153 to -218 C. (Source)
  6. At least 27 moons are orbiting Uranus. Compared to moons of other planets named after ancient mythologies, the names of Uranus’ moons derive from the characters of Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. They are half rock and half water ice. Their color is blacker than asphalt. (Source)
  7. Uranus is four times bigger and more than 14.5 times massive than earth. It weighs around 86 septillion kg. (Source)
  8. The speed of winds on Uranus can be up to 560 miles per hour (mph). Comparatively, the wind speed inside tornadoes is around 300 mph.
  9. Uranus is the 3rd largest planet in the solar system. Its diameter is four times the diameter of the earth. Due to its large volume, 63 earth-sized planets can fit inside Uranus. (Source) 
    Size comparison between earth and Uranus
    63 earth-sized planets can fit inside Uranus

  10. The blue-green color of Uranus is due to the presence of methane gas in the atmosphere of the planet.
  11. Like earth, Uranus also has four seasons, but the duration of each season is 21 earthly years. These seasons are extreme due to an extraordinary tilt (98 degrees) on Uranus’ axis. (Source)
  12. Uranus is around 2.9 billion km (1.8 billion miles) away from the sun. It completes one orbit around its planet in 84 Earth years.
  13. However, a day on Uranus is shorter than a day on Earth. It completes one day (one rotation) in around 17 hours.
  14. The reason for such a strange rotation of Uranus is its extraordinary tilt. It may be due to its collision with another celestial object.
  15. Uranus has three layers: a rocky core, an icy mantle, and a gaseous atmosphere. The icy mantle is the predominant (around 80% of the total mass of Uranus) of all these surfaces.
  16. Uranus is the only planet named after a Greek god. Earth is an English/Germanic name, while all the other planets have the names of Roman gods. (Source)
  17. Saturn has the most prominent ring system, but Uranus has the highest number (13) of rings among all the planets (only gas and ice giants have ring systems). 
  18. Uranium is a chemical element commonly used in nuclear weapons and power plants. After its discovery in 1789, the chemical element was named after the planet Uranus, discovered just a few years earlier (1781). 
  19. In 1781, British astronomer William Herschel discovered Uranus during his search for stars that are ten times dimmer as compared to visible stars.
  20. Uranus and Jupiter have the 2nd lowest dense among planets in the solar system. Their average density is 1.3 gm/cm3. (Source)
  21. Sunlight takes 8 minutes to reach earth, while the time taken by sunlight to reach Uranus is 2 hours and 40 minutes. 
  22. Due to its distance from the sun, the intensity of sunlight on Uranus is 400 times less than its intensity on earth.
  23. So far, only one spacecraft has visited Uranus in 1986. NASA’s Voyager 2 discovered ten moons, two rings, and a strong magnetic field during this visit. (Source) 
  24. Uranus was the first planet discovered in the modern age in 1781. It was also the initial planet discovered through a telescope.
  25. However, that does not mean Uranus is not visible without a telescope. It is possible to see this distant with the naked eye. (Source)
  26. Uranus is commonly known as the most boring planet. It is due to the lack of interesting features on this planet compared to other planets in the solar system. (Source)
  27. Despite having an extremely cold surface, the temperature at the interior part of Uranus is very hot. The temperature near its core can reach up to 9,000 degrees F (around 5,000 Celsius).

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