Uranus By: Bailey Jo Padgett

Myth behind Uranus

The only planet to be named after a greek God not a roman one.

Ouranos was the son and husband of Gaea and the first god of the sky. His father is sometimes said to have been Aether (Air). He was the father of the Titans, the Cyclopes, the Hecatonchires, the Erinyes, and the Gigantes, the Meliae, and Aphrodite. He was horrified by his eldest children, and locked them up inside the Earth. But this caused Gaea a lot of pain, and she convinced her Titan sons to fight their father. Chronos (Saturn) - one of the Titans - castrated Ouranos with a sickle, and his blood cause the birth of the Erinyes and the Gigantes.

Planet Profile

Mass: 86,810,300,000,000,000 billion kg (14.536 x Earth)

Equatorial Diameter: 51,118 km

Polar Diameter: 49,946 km

Equatorial Circumference: 159,354 km

Known Moons: 27

Known Rings: 13

Orbit Distance: 2,870,658,186 km (19.22 AU)

Orbit Period: 30,687.15 Earth days (84.02 Earth years)

Surface Temperature: -197 °C

Discover Date: March 13th 1781

Discovered By: William Herschel

Internal structure: Mantle of water, ammonia and methane ices; core of iron and magnesium-silicate

Simple facts about Uranus

The first planetary system discovered by a telescope

Visible to the naked eye but it was thought to be a star not a planet. 1.77 billion miles (2.85 billion km)

It takes 84 earth years to orbit the sun

Since its discovery in 1781 Uranus has orbited the Earth less than three times.

Voyager 2

Voyager 2 is a space probe launched by NASA on August 20, 1977 to study the outer planets. Part of the Voyager program, it was launched 16 days before its twin, Voyager 1.

Uranus has been visited by only one spacecraft, Voyager 2 on Jan 24 1986.

It is the only spacecraft to have ever visited either of the ice giants.

Uranus’ atmosphere

83% hydrogen

15% helium

2% methane

Its axial tilts at a 98 degree angle

It is often described as “rolling around the Sun on its side.”

Winds often can reach 560 rpm

This unusual orientation might be due to a collision with a planet-size body, or several small bodies, soon after it was formed.

The tilt gives rise to extreme seasons roughly 20 years long

For nearly a quarter of the Uranian year, equal to 84 Earth-years, the sun shines directly over each pole, while the other half of the planet to experience a long, dark, cold winter.

Uranus’ moons Voyager 2 discovered 10 small

moons in addition to the 5 large ones already known. It is likely that there are several more tiny satellites within the rings.

Each of the five largest moons has probably had at least one shattering impact.

● All 27 moons● Cordelia, Ophelia, Bianca,

Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, Cupid, Belinda, Perdita, Puck, Mab, Ariel, Umbriel, Oberon, Miranda, Titania, Francisco, Caliban, Stephano, Trinculo, Sycorax, Margaret, Prospero, Setebos, Ferdinand

Rings

Uranus has rings. Like Jupiter's, they are very dark but like Saturn's they are composed of fairly large particles up to 10 meters in diameter in addition to fine dust. There are 13 known rings, all very faint; the brightest is known as the Epsilon ring.

List of Rings

Distance WidthRing (km) Zeta 39,6006 41,8405 42,2304 42,580 Alpha 44,720 Beta 45,670 Eta 47,190 Gamma 47,630 Delta 48,290 Lambda 50,024 Epsilon 51,140 Nu 67,300 Mu 97,700

Erich Karkoschka decided to relook at the pictures from 1986 voyager 2 because all the pictures we had of Uranus were so clear even though the Ice Giant has clouds miles wide. he cross referenced every picture. (1,600 images)

He noticed the southern hemispheres rotation is likely a cause of an “unusual feature” in Uranus.

Although they haven't been able to identify what the secret is behind Uranus they have found where to look to find what the surface of the Ice Giant is really like.

Not so funny Uranus jokes!!!!!!

Not so funny jokes continued