By: Catherine Frost Camila Castaneda & Jaime Hewitt

The Name Behind the Planet Uranus is named after the ancient Greek god of the sky who was the father of Kronos William Herschel originally wanted to name the planet after his king, King George III; he would call it Georgium. The international astronomy community did not approve of the name so they stuck with Uranus after ancient Greek and Roman gods. The planet was universally accepted in 1850.

Size Diameter: 51,118 km across (4 times bigger than Earth) Volume: x 10 to the third power (over 63 Earths) Mass: 8.68 x 10 to the twenty-fifth kg (14.5 times more massive than Earth) Uranus is the smallest of all the outer planets Surface area: 8.1 x 10 to the ninth power (if you flattened Earth out, it would take 16 to cover the surface)

Discovery of Uranus ~Uranus was originally discovered and claimed to be a star named 34 Tauri, by John Flamsteed. ~However, on March 13, 1781, astronomer William Herschel, while using his telescope, discovered Uranus while surveying the sky. ~William originally named the Planet “the Georgium Sidus” in honor of King George III. ~It wasn’t until 1850 that the planet was officially renamed Uranus.

Sir William Herschel ~Born: November 15, 1738 in Hannover, Germany ~Died: August 25, 1822 ~William Herschel first found interest in astronomy in 1773 after purchasing James Ferguson's book, Astronomy. ~On March 4 th, 1774 William discovered the Orion Nebula. ( his very first discovery ) ~When Herschel discovered Uranus on March 13, 1781, he first thought it was a comet, but later learned it was in fact a planet. ~The discovery of Uranus elected him into the Royal Society on December 7, He was then awarded an annual grant by King George III of England. ~The grant that King George gave to William fully allowed him to focus his career on astronomy.

Rings Discovered in 1977 by James Elliot, Edward Bunham, and Douglas Mink William Herschel reported seeing rings upon discovery of the planet, but that’s impossible from the technology back then (HE LIED.) 13 rings, 38,000 km from the center to 90,000 km Dark, contain large rocks and boulders Thought to be young, only around 600,000,000 million years old

Tilt of Rotational Axis One of Uranus’ most unique qualities is the extraordinary tilt of its rotational axis. The tilt of its axis lies perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic. This means that it alternately has its South and North Poles turned towards the sun. Because of this strange spin, nights on Uranus can last for more than 40 years!

Atmosphere Uranus’ atmosphere is composed of 2%mathane, 15% helium, and 83% hydrogen The methane in the upper atmosphere absorbs red light which gives Uranus its blue-green color Its atmosphere is arranged into clouds which run at constant latitudes Winds on Uranus travel in the direction of the planets rotation

Summer & Winter Days Because of uranus’ tilt, the planet experiences 21 year- long season and unusual weather When the sunlight reaches latitudes for the first time, it warms the atmosphere which causes gigantic springtime storms comparable in size to temperatures of 300 F below zero. Scientist predicted that in 2007, the sun would shine directly over Uranus' equator, which produced more evenly distributed sunlight

The Moons of Uranus The moons of Uranus are Oberon, Titania, Ariel, Umbriel, Miranda, Juliet, Puck, Cordela. Ophelia, Bianca, Desdemona, Portia, Rosalinda, Cressida, and Belinda, Mab, Perdita, Cupid, Fransisco, Caliban, Stephano, Trinculo, Sycorax, Margaret, Prospero, Setebos, ferdinand (27 known moons total) The largest Uranian moons are Oberon and Titania All of the inner moons of Uranus are composed of half water ice and half rock; outer moons are most likely to be captured asteroids

Interior Outer envelope: molecular hydrogen, helium, methane (Equal to about the mass of two Earths) Mantle: water, methane, and ammonia. High temperatures and pressure (Equal to Earth masses) Core: Rock and ice (About the mass of Earth)

Fun Facts! A year on Uranus is = to Earth years! Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have visited the planet Uranus! If you weigh 100 lbs, then your weight on Uranus would be 89 lbs! ( just multiply your actual weight by.8 ) Uranus is named after the Greek god of the sky! Uranus’ mass is 14 times larger than the Earth! It takes approximately 30,685 Earth days for Uranus to complete a single orbit around the sun! Uranus is known as an Ice Giant!

Robbins, Stuart J. "Elemental Composition." Web. 1 Apr

"Planetart Tilt." Giant Planets. Laps.Colorado. Web. 1 Apr

Citations: Cain, Frasier. "Interesting Facts About Uranus." Universe Today. Web. 30 Mar Crowe, Michael J. "William Herschel ( )." SEDS | Students for the Exploration and Development of Space. Web. 30 Mar "Discovery of Uranus." Thinkquest. Oracle. Web.. "Facts about the Planets." Uranus Facts. Planet Facts. Web.. "Uranus." Thinkquest. Oracle. Web. 30 Mar Hamilton, Calvin J. "Uranus." Views of the Solar System. Web. 01 Apr "Planets: Uranus: Moons." Solar System Exploration. Web. 01 Apr "Science & Technology: Science Features: Weather, Weather, Everywhere?" Solar System Exploration. 7 Feb Web. 01 Apr

Review Quesitons: 1)How many rings does Uranus have? a- 13 b- 1 c- -12 d- 20 2) How many moons does Uranus have? a- -2 b- 35 c- 2 d- 27 3) Who was the person who discovered Uranus? a- Bill Thomas b- Josh Weatherall c - William Herschel d- Barry Bonds 4) What is the most unique characteristic of Uranus? a- it’s interior is purple b- its rotational tilt of the axis c- its hot d- extraterrestrial life exists on this planet 5) What color is this planet? a- Pink b- Blue c- Orange d- Red

Answers! 1.A 2.D 3.C 4.B 5.B