The Hunt. A short walk from dead-end dirt road NF-400. Ammo can.
Name. Uranus was the ancient Greek deity of the Heavens, the earliest supreme god. The name means "rain" as the sky was the life-giving rainmaker. He had a tumultuous relationship with Gaia (Earth) with whom he fathered many children including Saturn. Gaia eventually made a sickle and asked her children to castrate him. Uranus is the only planet whose name is derived from Greek rather than Roman mythology.
Factoids. Uranus is the third of the outer, gas giant planets and the first planet discovered in modern times (1781). It is also the first planet to be discovered with a telescope. It is barely visible from the Earth with the naked eye, which explains why it was not known as a planet to the ancients, and why it had been observed many times with telescopes without realizing that it was not a star. The cloudy atmosphere is nearly featureless in visible light, although temporary spots have been seen.
Uranus is the only planet that does not rotate perpendicularly to the ecliptic plane. It lies on its side where its north pole points almost directly toward the Sun for a half the year, and its south pole points toward the Sun during the other half. This strange axis tilt produces extreme seasons. We do not know why Uranus is tilted in this way. It has a much colder core than the other gas giants, and radiates very little heat into space. Along with Neptune it is referred to as an "ice giant."
Uranus has 5 large moons, many small satellites and at least 9 rings. Several of the moons are denser than water showing that some type of ice is present, probably methane, ammonia or frozen water. All of the moons are dark gray in color which means they could be covered with carbon soot or graphite.
- Distance from Sun = 18-20 AU (1.8 billion miles)
- Diameter = 3.9 Earths (31,000 miles)
- Length of year in Earth years = 84
- Satellites = 27
- Mean surface temperature = 76 K (-326 F)
- Weight of 100 pounds on surface = 108
Exploration. Until Voyager 2 (launched in 1977) made its flyby in 1986, Uranus was thought to have only 5 moons. The spacecraft discovered 10 other moons and a couple of new rings. It also studied the planet's unique weather and magnetic field before continuing on to Neptune. Follow-up visits have been proposed but none are planned.