Uranus Facts for Kids

7th From the Sun!

Uranus is the 7th planet from the Sun, way out in the cold, dark part of our solar system! It takes sunlight about 2 hours and 40 minutes to reach Uranus. That is a seriously long commute!

An Ice Giant!

Uranus is called an "ice giant" because deep inside it is made of super-hot icy materials like water, methane, and ammonia. It is NOT a gas giant like Jupiter or Saturn - it has its own special category!

The Sideways Planet!

Uranus spins completely on its side! Its axis is tilted a whopping 98 degrees. Scientists think something huge - maybe an Earth-sized object - crashed into Uranus billions of years ago and knocked it over!

Why So Blue-Green?

Uranus gets its beautiful pale blue-green color from methane gas in its atmosphere! Methane absorbs red light from the Sun and reflects blue-green light back to our eyes. It is like a giant turquoise marble floating in space!

It Rains Diamonds!

Deep inside Uranus, the pressure is so incredibly intense that it squeezes carbon atoms into actual diamonds! Scientists believe it literally rains diamonds inside this planet. How cool is that?!

The Coldest Planet!

Uranus holds the record for the coldest temperature ever measured on a planet in our solar system: minus 371 degrees Fahrenheit! That is even colder than Neptune, even though Neptune is farther from the Sun!

28 Known Moons!

Uranus has 28 known moons, and they are all named after characters from the plays of William Shakespeare and the poems of Alexander Pope! How literary for a planet!

Miranda: The Franken-Moon!

Uranus's moon Miranda is one of the weirdest-looking objects in the solar system! It has giant canyons, cliffs, and mismatched terrain that looks like it was smashed apart and put back together like a jigsaw puzzle!

Rings in the Dark!

Uranus has 13 known rings, but they are very thin and dark - almost invisible! Unlike Saturn's bright icy rings, Uranus's rings are made of dark particles and were not discovered until 1977!

21-Year Seasons!

Because Uranus is tilted on its side and takes 84 Earth years to orbit the Sun, each of its seasons lasts about 21 Earth years! Imagine having winter for 21 years straight!

Wild Winds!

Uranus has super powerful winds that can blow up to 560 miles per hour! That is almost as fast as the fastest jet planes on Earth. You would NOT want to fly a kite there!

63 Earths Fit Inside!

Uranus is the third-largest planet in our solar system! About 63 Earths could fit inside Uranus. If Earth were a golf ball, Uranus would be about the size of a softball!

Voyager 2 Flew By!

Only one spacecraft has ever visited Uranus - NASA's Voyager 2 in January 1986! It flew within 50,600 miles of the planet's cloud tops and discovered 10 new moons and 2 new rings!

Sideways Auroras!

Because Uranus is tilted on its side, its auroras (northern lights) are completely sideways compared to other planets! They swirl around the equator instead of the poles. Everything about this planet is topsy-turvy!

First Planet Discovered!

Uranus was the first planet ever discovered using a telescope! William Herschel found it in 1781. At first he thought it was a comet or a star, but it turned out to be a whole new planet!

Named After a Sky God!

Uranus is named after the ancient Greek god of the sky. It is the only planet named after a Greek god instead of a Roman one! Uranus was the father of Saturn in mythology.

84-Year Trip Around the Sun!

Uranus takes 84 Earth years to complete one orbit around the Sun! If you were born on Uranus, you would not have your first birthday until you were 84 Earth years old!

A 17-Hour Day!

One day on Uranus is about 17 hours long. So even though its year is super long, its days go by faster than ours! Uranus spins pretty quickly for such a big planet.

A Wonky Magnetic Field!

Uranus has a really weird magnetic field! It is tilted 59 degrees away from the planet's spin axis and does not even go through the center of the planet. It is like Uranus's compass is totally broken!

14.5 Times Heavier Than Earth!

Uranus is 14.5 times more massive than Earth! Even though it is much smaller than Jupiter and Saturn, it is still an absolutely enormous world compared to our little home planet.