| Discovered by Sir William Herschel in 1781, Uranus became the seventh planet of the solar system. Its diameter is around 52 000km. An unusual feature of Uranus is that it is tilted at an angle of 98°, so instead of spinning like a top, it lies on its side and rolls along. | ||
 |
The atmosphere consists mainly of hydrogen, helium and methane. It takes about 84 years for Uranus to orbit the sun and about 11 hours to rotate on its axis. Even on the sunlit side of the planet, the temperature never rises much above -170° C. |
|
| Uranus was found to have 5 rings in 1977, followed by the discovery of 4 more in 1986 (Voyager 2) | ||
 |