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Uranus ( ⛢ , अरुण ) is the Solar System‘s weirdo. Let it be its featureless look, mysteriously low temperature or excessive tilt, it is unlike any other planet. This far from home icy planet has its own amazing set of quirks.
Here are some interesting facts about Uranus, the icy misfit:
Uranus is the Latinized version of Ouranos
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Sir William Herschel announced its discovery on 13th March 1781, but he assumed it was a comet. By 1783, he acknowledges that his discovery is, in fact, a planet
Appendix: Classical Planets
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The interior of Uranus is mainly composed of ices and rock. Uranus and Neptune are known as the Ice Giants
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This could be because of the low heat generated by the planet
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Neptune, which is Uranus’ near twin in size and composition, radiates 2.61 times as much energy into space as it receives from the Sun. Uranus radiates hardly any excess heat at all
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Uranus is visible to the naked eye in dark skies and becomes an easy target even in urban conditions with binoculars. In larger amateur telescopes, it appears as a pale cyan disk
Appendix: apparent magnitude
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The difference between Uranus’ minimum and maximum distance from Sun is larger than all other planets but not as large as the dwarf planet Pluto
Appendix: AU
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The standard model of Uranus’ structure is that it consists of three layers: a rocky (silicate/iron–nickel) core in the centre, an icy mantle in the middle and an outer gaseous hydrogen/helium envelope
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As on all the giant planets, its upper atmosphere experiences strong winds. At some latitudes, such as about 60 degrees south, visible features of the atmosphere move much faster which makes a full rotation in as little as 14 hours
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Each pole gets around 42 Earth years of continuous sunlight followed by 42 Earth years of continuous darkness
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The speculated collision between the Protoplanet and Uranus happened at the time of formation of the Solar system
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The names of the moons are chosen from characters in the work of Shakespeare and Alexander Pope
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There are a total of 13 rings orbiting around the planet
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Uraniun moons are made up of 50% ice and 50% rock
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Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Uranus on 24 January 1986, coming within 81,500 km (50,600 mi) of the cloud tops. Then it continued its journey to Neptune
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Source: Wikipedia
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