URANUS

• Uranus is the 7th planet from the Sun, and the 3rd largest planet in the Solar System.

• Uranus is one of the 4 gas giants in the Solar System, as well as one of the Jovian planets.

• It is the “Twin Planet of Neptune.”

Facts about URANUS:

• History of Uranus• Characteristics of Uranus• Position and Movement of Uranus• Uranus’s Moon and Rings• Exploration on Uranus

History of Uranus

Who discovered?

• He became famous for his discovery of the planet Uranus, along with two of its major moons (Titania and Oberon).

• He first recorded the discovery of a faint object that might be a nebulous star or maybe a comet.

Sir William Herschel

Uranus

How did Uranus get its name?

• It is named after the ancient Greek god of the sky, Uranus.

How did Uranus get its name? • Herschel wanted to call it “Georgium Sidus”.• Some named it George III's Neptune and

Great-Britain's Neptune.• Some suggested Hypercronius and

Transaturnis.• The name Minerva was also proposed.• Finally, the editor of Berliner Astronomical

Laboratory opted for Uranus.

Symbol of Uranus

Soul

Spirit

Matter

H in symbol taken from discoverer's last name, Herschel.

Derived from a combination of the Mars and Sun symbols

Mars

Sun

Facts about URANUS:

• History of Uranus• Characteristics of Uranus• Position and Movement of Uranus• Uranus’s Moon and Rings• Exploration on Uranus

Size of Uranus

• The diameter of Uranus is 51,118 km across.

• Its total volume is 6.833×1013 km³.

• The mass of Uranus is 8.68×1025 kg.

• And its surface area is 8.1×109 km².

Composition of Uranus

Three Layers : a rocky core at the center, an icy mantle surrounding that, and an outer gas envelope of hydrogen and helium.

Atmosphere of Uranus• The atmosphere

of Uranus is composted mainly of molecular hydrogen and helium.

• The third most abundant molecule after hydrogen and helium is methane (CH4).

Axis Tilt of Uranus

• The axis of Uranus is tilted at an angle of 98-degrees.

Gravity on Uranus

• The gravity on Uranus Uranus is 0.89 or 89% of Earth‘s.

Temperature of Uranus

• The average temperature of the cloud tops on Uranus is -153ᵒC up to -218 ᵒC.

• Temperature inside it may reach 4,727 ᵒC.

Weather on Uranus

A thick, tempestuous atmosphere with winds blowing at a clip of 900 km/h.

Facts about URANUS:

• History of Uranus• Characteristics of Uranus• Position and Movement of Uranus• Uranus’s Moon and Rings• Exploration on Uranus

Position and Movement of Uranus

How Long is day on Uranus?

• A day on Uranus is 17 hours, 14 minutes and 24 seconds.

How Long is a year on Uranus?

• Uranus takes 84.3 years to complete its orbit around the Sun.

Distance from Earth

• The closest Uranus can get to Earth is 2.57 billion km.

Distance from the Sun

• Uranus’ distance from the Sun is 2.88 billion km.

Orbit of Uranus

• Uranus doesn’t have a perfectly circular orbit. Instead, it follows an elliptical path around the Sun.

Facts about URANUS:

• History of Uranus• Characteristics of Uranus• Position and Movement of Uranus• Uranus’s Moons and Rings• Exploration on Uranus

Uranus’ Moons & Rings

Uranus’ Moons

• Uranus has 27 known moons.

• The moons are all made of ice and rock.

• Most of the moons appear to be captured asteroids due to their size and orbits.

Uranus’ Moons

Name Discovery Date Discoverer Distance from

Uranus (103 km)Orbital Period (days)

Mass (1020 kg) Radius (km)

Miranda (UV) 1948 G. Kuiper 129.39 1.413479 0.66 240 x 234.2 x 232.9

Ariel (UI) 1851 W. Lassel 191.02 2.520379 13.5 581.1 x 577.9 x 577.7

Umbriel (UII) 1851 W. Lassel 266.30 4.144177 11.7 584.7

Titania (UIII) 1787 W. Herschel 435.91 8.705872 35.2 788.9

Oberon (UIV) 1787 W. Herschel 583.52 13.463239 30.1 761.4

Uranus’ Moons

Cordelia (UVI, S/1986 U7) 1986 Voyager 2 49.77 0.335034 20

Ophelia (UVII, S/1986 U8) 1986 Voyager 2 53.79 0.376400 21

Bianca (UVIII, S/1986 U9) 1986 Voyager 2 59.17 0.434579 27

Cressida (UIX, S/1986 U3) 1986 Voyager 2 61.78 0.463570 40

Desdemona (UX, S/1986 U6) 1986 Voyager 2 62.68 0.473650 32

Juliet (UXI, S/1986 U2) 1986 Voyager 2 64.35 0.493065 47

Name Discovery Date Discoverer

Distance from Uranus

(103 km)Orbital Period

(days) Mass (1020 kg)

Uranus’ MoonsName Discovery

Date DiscovererDistance from

Uranus (103 km)

Orbital Period (days) Mass (1020 kg)

Portia (UXII, S/1986 U1) 1986 Voyager 2 66.09 0.513196 68

Rosalind (UXIII, S/1986 U4) 1986 Voyager 2 69.94 0.558460 36

Cupid (S/2003 U2) 2003 74.8 0.618 12

Belinda (UXIV, S/1986 U5) 1986 Voyager 2 75.26 0.623527 40

Puck (UXV, S/1985 U1) 1985 Voyager 2 86.01 0.761833 81

Mab (S/2003 U1) 2003 97.7 0.923 16

Uranus’ MoonsName Discovery

Date DiscovererDistance from

Uranus (103 km)

Orbital Period (days) Mass (1020 kg)

Caliban (UXVI, S/1997 U1) 1997

Kavelaars, Gladman,

Holman, et. Al7230 579.5* 48

Stephano (UXX, S/1999 U2) 1999

Kavelaars, Gladman,

Holman, et. Al8002 676.5* 10

Sycorax (UXVII, S/1997 U2) 1997

Kavelaars, Gladman,

Holman, et. Al12,179 1283.4* 95

Margaret (UXXIII, S/2003 U3) 2003 14,345 1694.8 6

Prospero (UXVIII, S/1999 U3) 1999

Kavelaars, Gladman,

Holman, et. Al16,418 1992.8* 15

Uranus’ MoonsName Discovery

Date DiscovererDistance from

Uranus (103 km)

Orbital Period (days) Mass (1020 kg)

Setebos (UXIX, S/2001) 1999

Kavelaars, Gladman,

Holman, et. Al17,459 2202.3* 15

Trinculo (UXXI, S/2001 U1) 2001 8571 758.1* 5

S/1986 U10 1986 76.4 0.638 40

S/2001 U2 2001 21,000 2823.4* 6

S/2001 U3 2001 4280 266.6* 6

Rings of Uranus

• The rings were discovered from the Earth in 1977

• Some data suggested that Uranus was surrounded by at least 5 rings.

• Four more rings were suggested.

• 2 additional ones were found by Voyager 2.

Facts about URANUS:

• History of Uranus• Characteristics of Uranus• Position and Movement of Uranus• Uranus’s Moons and Rings• Exploration on Uranus

Exploration to Uranus

Voyager 2

• Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Uranus on January 24, 1986, coming within 81,500 kilometers (50,600 mi) of the planet's cloud tops.

Voyager 2

• The presence of a magnetic field at Uranus was not known until Voyager's arrival. The intensity of the field is roughly comparable to that of Earth's, though it varies much more from point to point because of its large offset from the center of Uranus. The peculiar orientation of the magnetic field suggests that the field is generated at an intermediate depth in the interior where the pressure is high enough for water to become electrically conductive.

Voyager 2

• Voyager 2 found that one of the most striking influences of the sideways position of the planet is its effect on the tail of the magnetic field, which is itself tilted 60 degrees from the planet's axis of rotation. The magnetotail was shown to be twisted by the planet's rotation into a long corkscrew shape behind the planet.

Voyager 2

• Voyager 2, the only spacecraft to visit Uranus, imaged a bland-looking sphere in 1986. When Voyager flew by, the south pole of Uranus pointed almost directly at the sun because Uranus was near its southern summer solstice, with the southern hemisphere bathed in continuous sunlight and the northern hemisphere radiating heat into the blackness of space.

References

• http://www.universetoday.com/18855/uranus/• http://burro.astr.cwru.edu/stu/uranus_moons.html• http://

solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Uranus&Display=OverviewLong