Uranus

Official Name: Uranus

Distance from the Sun: 19.2 AU

Mass: 8.681 x 10 25 kilograms

Myth: Uranus is known as Father Sky and the personification of the heavens in Greek mythology. He was also known as the ruler of the known universe. He is the son of Gaia and became an ancestor of almost all Greek Gods. However, he was not a good father and his children rebelled against him. He died by the hands of his son Cronus.

Interior Physical Properties: Uranus is one of the two ice giants in our solar system. More than 80 percent of the planet’s mass is made up of a hot dense fluid of water, methane, and ammonia. Uranus does have a small rocky core. Like Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus does not have a true surface.

Atmosphere: The atmosphere surrounding Uranus is mostly made of hydrogen and helium, much like Jupiter and Saturn. There are also small traces of methane, water, and ammonia. The methane gives Uranus the blueish-green appearance. The magnetosphere around Uranus is much different than the rest of the planets in the solar system. Uranus’s magnetic field is tipped over and rotates north to south rather than east to west.

Ring Properties: Uranus has two sets of rings, the inner system and the outer system. The inner system has nine rings that are dark grey and thin. The outer system is subdivided into two more systems-the innermost and the outer ring. The innermost outer ring is red in appearance and the outer ring is blue.

Number of Moons: Uranus has 27 known moons. There are five major moons that orbit Uranus. Unlike the other planets, the satellites orbiting around Uranus are named after characters from William Shakespeare’s plays and Alexander Pope’s plays instead of Roman or Greek mythology. All of Uranus’s inner moons appear to be half water and ice and half rock.

Notable Moon Info: The smallest of the five major moons of Uranus is Miranda. It was the last moon to be discovered before the Voyager 2 made it’s visit in 1986. Miranda is said to be similar to Frankenstein’s monster, meaning it looks like it was pieced together from other satellites that didn’t fit together. Miranda is the strangest moon out of all of the moons in our solar system. It is home to three giant fault canyons. These canyons are as much as 12 times deeper than the Grand Canyon.

Mission Overview: The only known spacecraft to ever visit Uranus is the Voyager 2. The Voyager 2 was launched in 1977 and reached Uranus in 1986. While the rings of Uranus were discovered on Earth, the Voyager 2 discovered the moons that orbit Uranus. The Voyager 2 did collect some images of Uranus’s rings during its visit.