Uranus - The Seventh Planet
- Uranus is the seventh planet out from the sun.
- It gets its blue color from all the methane gas in its atmosphere. Phew!
- Like the other gas giants, Uranus also has a system of rings.
- Uranus rotates on its axis in a manner even stranger than Venus's opposite spin; Uranus rotates at 90 degrees inclination, which means that
for part of the year its north pole points directly at the sun, and at another time of year, its south pole points directly at the sun.
- Even with this strange rotation, Uranus is still hottest at the equator, just like Earth!
- When Uranus was discovered, scientists calculated its orbit, and discovered that the planet's orbit didn't seem to
match the known laws of motion. This surprising discovery led to the eventual discovery of Neptune.
"The Solar System" is written by Douglas Twitchell, and hosted at The Problem Site.
Contents copyright 2009 by Douglas Twitchell. Contents of this page may not be reproduced without permission of the author. For information on using
this site in a classroom situation, please visit the Teachers page.
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