Overview

Namesake: Uranus was the primal Greek god personifying the sky. His name means "sky" or "heaven" in Ancient Greek.

Discovered: March 13, 1781 by William Herschel

Type: Ice Giant

Distance from the Sun: 19.19 AU (1.8 million miles); 7th planet from the sun

Year: about 84 earth years

Day: about 17 earth hours

Effective temperature: -357° F

Diameter: about 31,500 mi.

Atmosphere: Hydrogen, helium, methane

Rings: 13 (They are faint with the inner rings narrow and dark and the outer rings brightly colored.)

Moons: 27 (Named after characters from William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.)

Other Information:

Uranus is known as the sideways planet because it has the largest tilt (it's equator being at nearly a right angle) of all the planets causing it to spin on its side. As a result, the planet has 20-year long seasons and experiences extreme variations in sunlight during each season.

Find out how much you would weigh if you moved here.

Try this formula to see how much you would weigh:

(Your weight x 0.91)