Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and the third largest (by diameter).  Uranus is larger in diameter but smaller in mass than Neptune.  It orbits 2,870,990,000 kilometers from the Sun, has a diameter of 51,118 kilometers, and a mass of 8.683x10 to the 25th kilograms.  Uranus, the first planet discovered in modern times, was discovered by William Herschel while systematicly searching the sky with his telescope on March 13, 1781.  It had actually been seen many times before but ignored as simply another star (the
earliest recorded sighting was in 1690 when John Flamsteed cataloged it as 34 Tauri).  Herschel named it
"the Georgium Sidus" (the Georgian Planet) in honor of his patron, the infamous (to Americans) King George III of England; others called it "Herschel".  The name "Uranus" was first proposed by Bode in conformity with the other planetary names from classical mythology but didn't come into common use until 1850.  Uranus has been visited by only one spacecraft, Voyager 2 on Jan 24 1986.  Uranus is composed primarily of rock and various ices, with only about 15% hydrogen and a little helium (in contrast to Jupiter and Saturn which are mostly hydrogen).  Uranus (and Neptune) are in many ways similar to the cores of Jupiter and Saturn minus the massive liquid metallic hydrogen envelope.  It appears that Uranus does not have a rocky core like Jupiter and Saturn but rather that its material is more or less uniformly distributed.  Uranus' atmosphere is about 83% hydrogen, 15% helium and 2% methane.

Like the other gas planets, Uranus has bands of clouds that blow around rapidly.  But they are extremely faint, visible only with radical image enhancement of the Voyager 2 pictures.

Recent observations with Hubble Space Telescope show larger and more pronounced streaks.  Further Hubble Space Telescope observations show even more activity.  Uranus is no longer the bland boring planet that Voyager saw.  It now seems clear that the differences are due to seasonal effects since the Sun is now at a lower Uranian latitude which may cause more pronounced day/night weather effects.  By 2007 the Sun will be directly over Uranus's equator.  Uranus' blue color is the result of absorption of red light by methane in the upper atmosphere.  There may be colored bands like Jupiter's but they are hidden from view by the overlaying methane layer.

Like the other gas planets, Uranus has rings.  Like Jupiter's, they are very dark but like Saturn's composed of fairly large particles ranging up to 10 meters in diameter in addition to fine dust. There are 11 known rings, all very faint; the brightest is known as the Epsilon ring.  The Uranian rings were the first after Saturn's to be discovered.  This was of considerable importance since we now know that rings are a common feature of planets, not a peculiarity of Saturn alone.  Uranus is sometimes just barely visible with the naked eye on a very clear night; it is fairly easy to spot with binoculars (if you know exactly where to look). A small astronomical telescope will show a small disk.