You know, I think it's time I took a break from the weighty matters of the world. I mean, I've been putting too much time into important, grand ideas like philosophy and college football and I think it's time I stepped back and just attempted to spread some knowledge. I had a few ideas for what I felt like talking about, but none of them seemed all that promising. I had an idea of talking about ways of making science more interesting to high schoolers, but instead I'm going to do nothing but talk about Uranus.
Personally, I love Uranus. I like thinking about Uranus. I like talking about Uranus. What could be better than Uranus? Nothing, that's what. Uranus rules. Why? Because there is so much that is interesting about Uranus. While I am no expert, I think we should all have the chance to take a good look at Uranus.
Before exploring Uranus in depth, we should establish a few facts about it. At 31,770 miles (51,118 km) in diameter, Uranus is about 4.007 times as wide as the earth. It has a total volume of 16,405,000,000 miles3 (68,340,000,000 km3), or about the volume of 63.086 earths. And tipping the scales at 86,832,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg, Uranus is pretty massive too.
Though Uranus is not a gas giant like Jupiter or Saturn, it is distinguished by the thick layer of gasses that constitute a good portion of its mass. These gasses are primarily hydrogen and helium, though Uranus does hold a good portion of methane. In fact, its bluish color is actually caused by the methane that can be found in the atmosphere of Uranus.
Astromers examining Uranus were surprised to learn that Uranus spins sideways! Compared to the disk of the solar system, Uranus is tilted 98 degrees past vertical. So, at some times, the pole of Uranus is pointing almost right at us. No one is sure why it is like that, but some astronomers think that something massive slammed into Uranus a long time ago, knocking it out of whack.
There are currently 27 observed moons of Uranus, though there may be more coming. Not as large as some of satellites of other planets, they are still significant. Though it is not entirely clear how these bodies ended up around Uranus, many of them may have been orbiting the sun before Uranus captured them. Which means that, in essence, Uranus has asteroids around it.
Saturn is well-known for its ring system, but it is not the only planet with rings. Jupiter has rings, and so does Uranus!
Because of the enormous mass of Uranus and because of its methane content, some astronomers think that the pressures in the atmosphere may actually use the carbon in methane to create showers of diamonds that fall through the atmosphere.
Because Uranus is so far away, it is impossible to see with the naked eye, except under very perfect circumstances. In fact, nobody even knew about Uranus until 1781, when William Hershel happened to catch sight of it in his telescope and identify it. And now many people can go out to their backyards and point their telescopes at Uranus.
Voyager 2, on its way through the solar system, gave some of the best pictures of Uranus yet seen. As it sped by on its way out of the solar system, it showed a very plain planet that was not marked by the usuals bands of color that were to be found on Jupiter and Saturn. Still, the images of Uranus were very exciting and everyone who saw them at the time marvelled at seeing something they had only dreamed about in their younger days. If you'd like to hear more about this Voyager and Uranus, visit NASA's Mission to Uranus
Despite the fact that many astronomers would like to learn more about Uranus, there is nothing in the works right now. Though there are missions to Mars in the offing and a there is currently a mission to see Pluto, there are no plans to send anything to Uranus. Perhaps someday there will be a spacecraft sent there and maybe it will even drop a probe into Uranus.
I'm not the only person who likes looking at Uranus. There are several locations where you can find pictures of Uranus. Here is a sample of a few sites: