Page 48 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

Uranus is the seventh planet farthest from the Sun.
It is accompanied by numerous satellites, including five moons. In addition, it has ten narrow rings.
Uranus orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.8 billion km, spinning on its axis in a clockwise direction, the opposite of Earth. A Uranian day is 17.24 Earth hours.
The orbit takes 84 Earth years. Thus, although
the change between day and night is very rapid, the change between “summer” and “winter” takes 42 years on Uranus.
Uranus is unusual in that it spins on its side when compared to its orbit around the Sun. This is thought to be due to an ancient collision during the formation of the planets that knocked Uranus on its side.
Uranus has a low density (1.3 g/cm3) and is four times the diametre of the Earth (51,800 km), roughly the same size as Neptune. However, this is far smaller than the two giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn.
Unlike the Earth, Uranus has little solid rock. It is mainly made from hydrogen, helium, and water.
 Uranus with its moons.
 Uranus seen in true colour seems to be a uniformly greenish-blue planet (left); but when seen in false colour, the differences in latitudinal cloud bands show through clearly
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