Ruth Patrick Science Education Center Observatory
Our Solar System Series - Uranus
The RPSEC Uranus cache is part of the solar system cache series centered at the University of South Carolina Aiken. In this solar system model, the 5-meter (16.4-feet) dome of the Ruth Patrick Science Education Center (RPSEC) Observatory represents the diameter of the Sun known as Sol. The previous caches in this series (those planets with orbits closer than Uranus) were placed where the person finding the cache could see the observatory. Unfortunately, the topography will not allow that to be the case any longer.
Five objects have been known since antiquity and named by the Greeks as asteres planetai or "wandering stars." Today, we know that these objets are planets orbiting the Sun that are visible to people on Earth with unaided vision. These wanderers or planets are Mercury, Mars, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. While Uranus was not one of the original wanderers, it is still included as a planet when it was discovered by William Herschel in 1781. It is interesting that Uranus is bright enough to be visible to the unaided human eye under the right conditions, but was never described by ancient astronomers.
Uranus Facts:
- One of the Gas Giant Planets that includes Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus & Neptune.
- Uranus appears to be rotating on its side, unlike the other planets in our solar system.
- Uranus has a rings.
- Distance from Sun: Average = 1.78 billion mi. (2.87 billion km.)
- Diameter = 31,518 mi. (50,724 km.).
- Length of year = 84 Earth years.
- Length of day = 17.9 Earth hours.
| Saturn Distances with Sun Diameter = 5 m. |
|
Planet
Diam cm
|
Planet
Diam in
|
Orbit km
|
Orbit mi
|
Orbit m
|
Orbit ft
|
| 18.23 |
7.18 |
10.32 |
6.41 |
10,319 |
33,854 |
Be sure to obtain the code from the cache container in order to find the final Sun cache location.
All First Day Finders (FDF) receive a prize of two complementary planetarium tickets and a FDF Award Card. Visit http://rpsec.usca.edu/planetarium/ for schedule information.
Congratulations to kaboyd who sought and was FTF Uranus! He gets extra credit for the extra effort at searching where there was no cache because the CO had originally posted incorrect coordinates. Oops!
RPSEC Solar System Series:
- RPSEC Mercury - http://coord.info/GC3HQQH
- RPSEC Venus - http://coord.info/GC3JGQ4
- RPSEC Earth - http://coord.info/GC3V76Q
- RPSEC Mars - http://coord.info/GC41QMY
- RPSEC Dwarf Planet Ceres - http://coord.info/GC4342F
- RPSEC Jupiter - http://coord.info/GC49K1F
- RPSEC Saturn - http://coord.info/GC532M6
- RPSEC Uranus - http://coord.info/GC5FFXH
- RPSEC Neptune - http://coord.info/GC5QGBB
- RPSEC Dwarf Planet Pluto - http://coord.info/GC63TR7
- RPSEC Dwarf Planet Haumea - http://coord.info/GC6BXJ4
- RPSEC Dwarf Planet Makemake - http://coord.info/GC6F1RZ
- RPSEC Dwarf Planet Eris - http://coord.info/GC6HVTA
- RPSEC Sun - https://coord.info/GC6VW9W - get the cache codes from the first 13 Solar System Series caches to find the Sun.
Solar System in One Day Honor Roll. Find all of the above caches in one day and be included in the honor roll located on the RPSEC Sun page.
- RPSEC Ultima Thule - http://coord.info/GC81EPX