Uranus, the sideways planet with 21 year long seasons.
Discovered 235 years ago by William Herschel, Uranus is the 7th planet from the sun. The first planet, in fact, to be discovered with the aid of a telescope. Although this “planet” was spotted and charted in 1781 it wasn’t classified or universally accepted as one for a whole two years because it was originally believed to be a comet or a star. After it was finally accepted and titled, a planet, more research went toward Uranus. It was later discovered that it obtained 27 miniature moons as well as enclosed in 13 faint rings. In addition, Uranus was given the title, “The rolling planet.” due to its unique 98 degree tilt, making the planet appear as if it is rotated on its side, orbiting
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Moreover, with Uranus extreme pressures and temperature, a spacecraft’s metal would be destroyed if it flew through the planet’s atmosphere. Accordingly, this atmosphere is mainly made up of helium and hydrogen, but it does obtain traces of water as well as a small amount of methane, which gives the ice giant its signature blue color. Uranus planetary atmosphere is the 2nd coldest in the solar system with a minimum temperature of -224.2 degrees Celsius, making it even colder than Neptune in certain places. This chilling factor feels even colder, consequently due to Uranus’s wind speeds, reaching up to 560 mph.
Voyages
Although we know all this information about the ice giant known as Uranus, only one recorded trip has been done to the planet in all its existence. This took place on August 20th, 1977, with a spacecraft known as voyager 2. Granted that, it took the craft 9 years to even reach the planet, arriving on January 1986. Scientists say, it was worth their while, snapping and observing new images and data from Uranus’s rings to 10 new and undiscovered moons in the planet’s gravitational pull.