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This planet was not known to the ancients. Instead, it was discovered in 1781 by William Herschel. Uranus was the Roman god for the heavens. He was the original supreme ruler, and with his wife / mother, Tellus (in Greek mythology, Gaia), created the Hecatonchires, the Cyclopes, and the Titans. Uranus was overthrown by his son
Mass -- 8.69 x 1025 kg (14.37 earth masses)
Radius -- 15,880 mi (25,560 km or 4.00 earth radii)
Distance from the sun (average) -- 1,783,939,400 mi (2,870,972,200 km or 19.2 AU)
Gravity -- 27.7 ft/sq. sec (8.43 m/sq. sec) An adult weighing 140 lbs on Earth would weigh 120 lbs on Uranus.
Orbital velocity -- 15,290 mph (24,607 km/hr or 0.229 earth speed)
Orbital eccentricity -- 0.0472 This is how off-circular the moon's orbit around the Earth is. An eccentricity of 0.00 would be a perfect circle. An eccentricity of nearly 1 would be a very flattened oval. For a fun project on ellipses and eccentricity, click here.
Sidereal rotation -- 17.24 hr (0.7196 earth days) retrograde A day on Uranus would be equivalent to less than 3/4. In addition, Uranus (like Venus) spins opposite the way of the Earth ... clockwise when viewing the solar system from the top.
Sidereal orbit -- 736,420.8 hr (30,684 earth days or 84 earth years) A year on Uranus is 8400% longer than on Earth!
Moons -- 27, most of which are named after characters in Shakespeare's plays
For more information on Uranus, please visit SEDS' website http://www.nineplanets.org/uranus.html and NASA's website http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Uranus&Display=Overview. Both websites are wonderful resources.
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payday loans with bad credit Website last updated March 16, 2006. Hosted by Anthony Watts, KMXI Radio. Webmasters Tiara Norris and Brendan Diamond. |
