Samuel Chiltern answered
Uranus is the seventh farthest planet from the Sun.
There is only one planet that is farther away from the Sun than Uranus, and that is Neptune. However, there are four smaller bodies beyond this point, which are known as dwarf planets.
Pluto is a member of the dwarf planet group. There may be other orbitary objects still farther out, but which have yet to be discovered.
The Position of Uranus in Our Solar System
Uranus is one of the four 'outer planets' in our solar system, along with Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune. All four planets are vast, compared with rocky inner planets like Earth.
The orbit of Uranus places it approximately 2.9 billion km from the Sun, which gives it an orbital period of 84 Earth years. Compared with most other planets, it is a long way out!
Further Information About Uranus
Uranus was discovered in 1781 by William Herschel. It is only just observable with the naked eye, and was the first planet to be discovered using a telescope.
It has a faintly blue-coloured surface, which is not solid, but which is probably a mixture of hydrogen and helium. It has the coldest atmosphere of any planet in the solar system, which reaches lows of -224 degrees centigrade.
Uranus has the most unusual axis of all the planets, standing at 98 degrees, whereas the Earth rotates at a far more conservative angle of 23.5 degrees.
Although it is not the largest planet, Uranus has the third-largest radius, and the fourth-largest mass of all the planets in the solar system. It is almost 15 times the size of Earth in terms of mass.
There is only one planet that is farther away from the Sun than Uranus, and that is Neptune. However, there are four smaller bodies beyond this point, which are known as dwarf planets.
Pluto is a member of the dwarf planet group. There may be other orbitary objects still farther out, but which have yet to be discovered.
The Position of Uranus in Our Solar System
Uranus is one of the four 'outer planets' in our solar system, along with Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune. All four planets are vast, compared with rocky inner planets like Earth.
The orbit of Uranus places it approximately 2.9 billion km from the Sun, which gives it an orbital period of 84 Earth years. Compared with most other planets, it is a long way out!
Further Information About Uranus
Uranus was discovered in 1781 by William Herschel. It is only just observable with the naked eye, and was the first planet to be discovered using a telescope.
It has a faintly blue-coloured surface, which is not solid, but which is probably a mixture of hydrogen and helium. It has the coldest atmosphere of any planet in the solar system, which reaches lows of -224 degrees centigrade.
Uranus has the most unusual axis of all the planets, standing at 98 degrees, whereas the Earth rotates at a far more conservative angle of 23.5 degrees.
Although it is not the largest planet, Uranus has the third-largest radius, and the fourth-largest mass of all the planets in the solar system. It is almost 15 times the size of Earth in terms of mass.
