Uranus

Uranus rendered as a planetary sphere with accurate texture, plus details about its discovery, properties, and name.

What you’re seeing

This simulation renders Uranus as a physically accurate planetary sphere with a real texture applied to its surface. No rings or moons are shown, and no artificial exaggeration is used. The goal is to present the planet exactly as it appears: a pale, muted blue-green world with subtle atmospheric structure.

Discovery

Uranus was discovered on March 13, 1781 by William Herschel — the first planet identified using a telescope. Before that, every known planet was visible to the naked eye. Herschel initially believed it to be a comet, but its slow, steady motion across the sky revealed it as a new planet.

Distance from the Sun

Uranus is the 7th planet from the Sun. On average, it orbits at a distance of about 2.87 billion km (or 19.2 AU). Because of this extreme distance, sunlight at Uranus is 400 times weaker than on Earth, and a single Uranian year lasts 84 Earth years — meaning Uranus completes just one orbit of the Sun in nearly a human lifetime.

Special qualities

Uranus is tilted on its side with an axial tilt of about 98°, causing it to roll along its orbit like a spinning barrel. This creates extreme seasons, with each pole spending 42 years in continuous daylight followed by 42 years of darkness. It is classified as an ice giant rather than a gas giant.

Moons

Uranus has 27 known moons, named after characters from Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. Its largest moons — Titania, Oberon, Umbriel, Ariel, and Miranda — show evidence of complex geological activity and icy surfaces.

Size and mass

Uranus has a diameter of about 50,724 km and a mass roughly 14.5 times greater than Earth’s. Despite its large size, it is composed mainly of volatile ices — water, methane, and ammonia — giving it a surprisingly low density.

Chemistry and color

The planet’s muted blue-green color comes from methane in the upper atmosphere, which absorbs red light. Beneath the cloud layers lie high-pressure forms of water, ammonia, and methane, potentially forming a superionic “hot ice” mantle above a rocky core.

Name and meaning

The name Uranus comes from the Greek sky god Ouranos — father of Kronos (Saturn) and grandfather of Zeus (Jupiter). It remains the only planet named after a Greek deity rather than a Roman one.