Britannica Illustrated Science Library: Universe by Encyclopedia Britannica

Author:Encyclopedia Britannica [Britannica, Encyclopedia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781593393991
Amazon: 1593393997
Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Published: 2008-01-02T10:00:00+00:00

54 THE SOLAR SYSTEM

UNIVERSE 55

Uranus Without Secrets

EPSILON

Rings

LAMBDA

Like all giant planets of the solar system, Uranus has a ring T

DELTA

system, but it is much darker than Saturn's and more difficult o the unaided eye, Uranus looks like a star at the limit of visibility. It is the GAMMA

to see. The planet's 11 rings, which orbit the planet's equator, were discovered in 1977. In 1986, they were explored by Voyager 2.

seventh farthest planet from the Sun and the third largest planet in the solar system.

ETA

One peculiarity distinguishing it from the other planets is its anomalous axis of BETA

rotation, tilted nearly 98 degrees around the plane of its orbit, so that one or the other of ALPHA

Uranus's poles points toward the Sun. Astronomers speculate that, during its formation, Uranus may have suffered an impact with a protoplanet, which could have altered Uranus's Satellites

tilt. Uranus's orbit is so large that the planet takes 84 years to completely orbit the Sun.

4

Uranus has 27 moons. The first four were discovered Shakespeare and Alexander Pope, a naming convention that Uranus's period of rotation is 17 hours and 14 minutes.

in 1787, and another 10 were identified in 1986 by distinguishes them from the other moons in the solar 5

the space probe Voyager 2. Uranus's moons were named in system. Some of Uranus's moons are large, but most 6

honor of characters from the works of William

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