Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet of our Solar System. The main feature of the planet is the tilt of its axis of rotation of almost ninety degrees with respect to its orbit, the inclination is not only confined to the this planet, but also its rings, satellites and the magnetic field. Uranus has a more uniform surface than all of the other planets and is a characteristic blue-green colour, produced by the combination of gases in its atmosphere. Additionally, the planet has some rings that can not be observed with the naked eye. In addition, Uranus has a blue ring, which is a rarity. Uranus is one of only two planets that has a retrograde movement, similar to that of Venus. Top of Form Uranus was the first planet discovered that it was not known in antiquity, although it had been observed and confused with a star on many occasions. The oldest record of it is when John Flamsteed classified as the star 34 Tauri in 1690. Sir William Herschel, a German musician in the court of King George III of England, discovered the planet on March 13, 1781 using a self built telescope built by himself, although at first reported that it was a comet. Initially it was given the name Georgium Sidus (the star of George) to honour the king who recently lost the British colonies in Americas, but had won a star. However, the name was not used beyond Britain, and Lalande, a French astronomer, proposed to call Herschel in honour of its discoverer. Finally, the German astronomer Johann Elert Bode proposed the name of Uranus in honour of the Greek god, father of Cronos - whose name was Roman equivalent to Saturn. By 1827, Uranus was the most widely used name for the planet even in Great Britain. The HM Nautical Almanac lists as Georgium Sidus continued until the year 1850. Uranus has a nucleus composed of rocks and ice of different types, of which the latter much more abundant. The planet has a thick atmosphere composed of a mixture of hydrogen and helium that represents up to 15% of the planetary mass. Uranus (like Neptune) is in many ways a gas giant whose growth was interrupted without having accumulated the large masses of gas as the giant planets of Jupiter and Saturn. The rotation of Uranus, like that of Venus, is retrograde and its rotational axis is tilted to almost ninety degrees with respect to the plane of its orbit. During his orbital period of 84 Earth years, one of the poles is permanently illuminated by the sun while the other remains in the shadows. Consequently it is expected that this planet possesses significant seasonal effects in its atmosphere. It is not known why the planet"s axis is tilted in such a high level although it speculates that perhaps the planet, during its formation, could have collided with a large protoplanet which may have been able to have produce this anomalous orientation. |
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