How is uranus like saturn

Uranus possesses two sets of rings. The inner system of rings consists mostly of narrow, dark rings, while an outer system of two more-distant rings, discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope, are brightly colored: one red, one blue.

Scientists have identified 13 known rings around Uranus. A study suggested that the rings of Uranus, Saturn and Neptune may be the remnants of Pluto-like dwarf planets that strayed too close to the giant worlds long ago. Uranus has 27 known moons. Oberon and Titania are the largest Uranian moons, and were the first to be discovered, by Herschel in William Lassell, who was also the first to see a moon orbiting Neptune, discovered Uranus' next two moons, Ariel and Umbriel. In , Voyager 2 visited the Uranian system and discovered an additional 10 moons, all just 16 to 96 miles 26 to km in diameter:Juliet, Puck, Cordelia, Ophelia, Bianca, Desdemona, Portia, Rosalind, Cressida and Belinda.

Each of those moons are roughly half water ice and half rock. Since then, astronomers using Hubble and ground-based observatories have raised the total to 27 known moons, and spotting these was tricky — they are as little as 8 to 10 miles 12 to 16 km across, blacker than asphalt and nearly 3 billion miles 4.

Between Cordelia, Ophelia and Miranda is a swarm of eight small satellites crowded together so tightly that astronomers don't yet understand how the little moons have managed to avoid crashing into each other. Anomalies in Uranus' rings lead scientists to suspect there might still be more moons.

In addition to moons, Uranus may have a collection of Trojan asteroids — objects that share the same orbit as the planet — in a special region known as a Lagrange point. The ice giant is surrounded by 13 faint rings and 27 small moons as it rotates at a nearly degree angle from the plane of its orbit.

This unique tilt makes Uranus appear to spin on its side, orbiting the Sun like a rolling ball. The first planet found with the aid of a telescope, Uranus was discovered in by astronomer William Herschel, although he originally thought it was either a comet or a star. It was two years later that the object was universally accepted as a new planet, in part because of observations by astronomer Johann Elert Bode.

Instead, the planet was named for Uranus, the Greek god of the sky, as suggested by Johann Bode. Uranus' environment is not conducive to life as we know it. The temperatures, pressures, and materials that characterize this planet are most likely too extreme and volatile for organisms to adapt to. With a radius of 15, If Earth was the size of a nickel, Uranus would be about as big as a softball. From an average distance of 1. One astronomical unit abbreviated as AU , is the distance from the Sun to Earth.

From this distance, it takes sunlight 2 hours and 40 minutes to travel from the Sun to Uranus. One day on Uranus takes about 17 hours the time it takes for Uranus to rotate or spin once. And Uranus makes a complete orbit around the Sun a year in Uranian time in about 84 Earth years 30, Earth days. Uranus is the only planet whose equator is nearly at a right angle to its orbit, with a tilt of This unique tilt causes the most extreme seasons in the solar system. For nearly a quarter of each Uranian year, the Sun shines directly over each pole, plunging the other half of the planet into a year-long, dark winter.

Uranus is also one of just two planets that rotate in the opposite direction than most of the planets Venus is the other one , from east to west. Uranus has 27 known moons. While most of the satellites orbiting other planets take their names from Greek or Roman mythology, Uranus' moons are unique in being named for characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.

With the equivalent of It looks blue in photographs because the methane in its atmosphere absorbs red wavelengths and reflects blue. Like Saturn, Uranus has rings and moons. But unlike Saturn — and indeed every other planet in the solar system — the ice giant is tipped on its side.

In other words, rather than spinning like a top as it circles the sun, Uranus rolls around on its side. All rights reserved. Share Tweet Email. Go Further. Animals Wild Cities This wild African cat has adapted to life in a big city. Women at the Helm. Hubble uncovered a new dark storm on Neptune and provided a fresh look at a long-lived storm on Uranus. Hydrogen sulfide, the gas that gives rotten eggs their distinctive odor, has been verified as one of the key components of clouds at Uranus. We're talking about the ice giants.

These are two enormous planets in our outer solar system: Uranus and Neptune. Ten things to know about Voyager 2 on the 40th anniversary of its launch. In a flurry of new moon discoveries in late and early , it was announced by this author - and several other sources - that the planet Uranus had 21 moons. Stone, JPL's director since , is stepping down on May 1. A Conversation with Dr. Ed Stone. The first unmanned space probe flyby in history of the planet Uranus by Voyager 2 on January 24, should have been an exciting one in the history of planetary exploration.

Fifteenth Anniversary of Voyager 2 Flyby of Uranus in What do you get if you mix together one part helium and five-and-a-half parts hydrogen, add a dash of methane, heat to 60 Kelvins degrees F and let sit for over four billion years?