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Uranus

7th planet from the Sun, the third largest planet in the solar system
   
Average distance from the Sun     2,870,990,000 km / 19.218 AU
Diameter     51,118 km (equatorial)
Mass     8.683e25 kg
Orbital period around the Sun     84 Earth years / 30,660 Earth days
Number of moons     about 27 named moons
   
   
Uranus is unlike most of the planets which spin on an axis—it pins on an axis that is tilted so far it looks like a top spinning on its side. The blue-green color of the planet is due to methane in the atmosphere. It is difficult for beginners with small telescopes to find Uranus. In slightly larger scopes it will look more like a disk and less like a point. The largest are named after characters in Shakespeare plays. Others are named after characters in writings by Alexander Pope.

Our Solar System

Our solar system is located on the edge of a spiral arm called Orion’s Arm, and is one-half to two-thirds of the way (28,000 light-years) from the center of our Milky Way galaxy.

The Sun, Sol

The Inner Planets
  Mercury
  Venus
  Earth
    The Moon
  Mars

The Asteroid Belt
  Dwarf planet, Ceres
  Asteroid, Ida
  Asteroid, Vesta
  Asteroid, Eros

The Outer Planets
  Jupiter
  Saturn
  Uranus
  Neptune

The Kuiper Belt
  Dwarf planet, Pluto
  Dwarf planet, Eris

The Oort Cloud
  Dwarf planet, Sedna
  Comet Halley
  Comet Hale-Bopp

  Glossary of Terms
 
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