Uranus

1. Uranus

2. What is it? • Giant ball of gas and liquid • Blue-green clouds of methane, a gas • Under the surface are thick layers of water mixed with ammonia, also a gas • Coldest planet in the solar system

3. Where is it? • Seventh planet from the sun. • Most distant planet we can see without a telescope. • Moves around the sun in an oval path. • Takes about 84 Earth years for Uranus to go around the sun. • Takes 17 hours and 14 minutes to spin once all the way around on its axis.

4. How does it compare? • About four times the size of Earth • Only Neptune is farther from the sun • Center is probably rocky like Earth • The gravity is about 90% of that on Earth • 21 known satellites (moons)

5. Cool Facts • Johann E. Bode, a German astronomer, named it Uranus from Greek mythology. • Uranus was first ruler of the universe. He fathered the Titans and the Cyclopes. • Most information about Uranus came from the spacecraft Voyager 2 in 1986.

6. Sources • "Uranus." The World Book Student Discovery Encyclopedia. Chicago: World Book, Inc., 2005. • http://www.universetoday.com/19282/temperature-of-uranus/ • Gierasch, Peter J., and Philip D. Nicholson. "Uranus." World Book Online Reference Center. 2004. World Book, Inc. http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar577720 • Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition; 7/1/2010, p1-1, 1p

7. Image Sources • Title slide: www.nasa.gov • Slide 2: methane molecule: http://molecularmaidens.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html • Slide 4: rings and satellites: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpegMod/PIA01278_modest.jpg • Slide 5: Bode: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Titius-Bode_law