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Visual Tour of the Solar System

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Visual Tour of the Solar System - Uranus

Uranus - Visual Solar System Tour - Uranus

Uranus - Visual Solar System Tour - Uranus

Kenneth Seidelmann, U.S. Naval Observatory, and NASA
When Uranus was 1st discovered in 1781 by William Herschel, he named it Georgium Sidus (Star of George) in honor of King George III of England. Later, astronomers changed the name to Uranus, for the Greek ruler of Heaven and the Universe. It is the 7th planet from the sun and 3rd largest.

Uranus is a Jovian planet or gas giant, with a rocky core, surrounded by a huge ocean of water mixed with rocky material. Its atmosphere is about 83% hydrogen, 15% helium and 2% methane. While most other plantes rotate on an axis which is nearly perpendicular to their orbit, Uranus's axis is closer to parallel. There is debate as to which pole is north.

Viewed by the naked eye, Uranus is barely visible, and was so dim as to not be considered for a place in the constellations. It appears as a blue-green disk through a powerful telescope.

Like Saturn, Uranus is a ringed planet. It has ten known rings along with 21 named satellites and 6 unnamed ones: Cordelia, Ophelia, Bianca, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, 2003U2, Belinda, 1986U10, Puck, 2003U1, Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon, 2001U3, Caliban, Stephano, Trinculo, Sycorax, 2003U3, Prospero, Setebos, & 2002U2.

This Image of "Uranus" is a recent Hubble Space Telescope view revealing Uranus surrounded by its four major rings and by 10 of its 17 known satellites. Generated by Erich Karkoschka with Hubble's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer.

Now, we will see what Neptune is like.

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