Uranus Trivia

1. What is the nickname for Uranus?

From Quiz Why Not Poke a Little Fun at Uranus?

Answer: The Bull's Eye Planet

Due to its pronounced axial tilt of 98°, the rings give it the look of a "bull's eye" on a target through a strong telescope.

From Quiz Uranus: World of an Ice Giant

Answer: Dense

Uranus is second only to Saturn as the least dense planet in our Solar System. The density of Uranus is 1.27 grams per cubic centimetre. The low density suggests it is mainly made of ice, rather than gas.

From Quiz Uranus, the Sky-king Star

Answer: 1781

To be precise, the planet was first confirmed to be discovered on March 13, 1781. However, it was misidentified as a comet for several months before it was proven to be a planet.

From Quiz Twenty Questions About Uranus

Answer: 98

Uranus' axis is almost parallel to the ecliptic; it has "fallen" over on its side! The equator is still hotter than the poles; the circumstances for this are unknown. There is still a debate as to which pole is the North pole and which is the South!

From Quiz Let's Not Joke About Uranus

Answer: William Herschel

Uranus was the first planet to be discovered with the aid of a telescope. More to the point, the first to be discovered since antiquity. When Herschel first spied the planet in 1781 he initially thought he'd spotted another star, or even a comet. It took another two years, and some further observation by fellow astronomer, Johann Bode, before Uranus became universally accepted as a planet. Herschel, by now a resident of England, lobbied to have the planet named Georgium Sidus (Georgian Star), as a tribute to King George III, but this fell on deaf ears. In particular with the French, who wanted nothing to do with an English king. As a consequence, the name "Herschel" was allocated to the planet until "Uranus", the Greek god of the sky, and suggested by Bode, was adopted universally. (Footnote) The story that Herschel claimed that Uranus could only be seen if it was a full moon is pure myth.

From Quiz Uranus: World of an Ice Giant

Answer: 13

The rings of Uranus were discovered after Saturn's rings. This discovery helped scientists understand that rings were common of planets in general, and not unique to Saturn. A study in 2016 suggested that the rings of Uranus, Neptune and Saturn may actually be the remains of dwarf planets that once wandered too close to giants.

From Quiz Twenty Questions About Uranus

Answer: Sir William Herschel

Sir William Herschel, 1738-1822, his original name was Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel, found Uranus on March 13, 1781. Sir William Herschel also cataloged over 2500 nebulae. NOTE: A little known fact about Uranus, John Flamsteed first plotted Uranus on a star chart as early as 1690 as 34 Tauri!

From Quiz Why Not Poke a Little Fun at Uranus?

Answer: William Herschel

Sir William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781 with a homemade 6.2-inch reflecting telescope. It had been observed well before this but was generally mistaken for a star; Hershel himself thought it was a comet at first. It's interesting to note that Uranus was actually the first planet to be "discovered": all the planets closer to the Sun had been identified since before recorded history and were well known from antiquity.

From Quiz Uranus, the Sky-king Star

Answer: Mars and the Sun

This was chosen because Ouranos, which the planet is named after, was a Greek representation of the sky, which was said to be ruled by the Sun and in the domain of Ares, the equivalent of the Roman Mars.

From Quiz Twenty Questions About Uranus

Answer: Johann Bode

William Herschel wanted to name it after King George III ("georgium sidus"), others wanted to name it Herschel. Johann Bode was famous for producing some of the best star atlases of his time.

From Quiz Let's Not Joke About Uranus

Answer: Names of some of its rings

Yes, Uranus has rings (and there's a punch line there waiting for a decent comedian to come along). They are faint, but they are there. There are 13 rings in total formed into two sets. The innermost system contains nine rings that are dark grey in colour. In the outer set the first two have a reddish hue while the outermost two are blue, in a similar vein to Saturn's E ring. Starting at the innermost ring and moving outward, the names are; Zeta, 6, 5, 4, Alpha, Beta, Eta, Gamma, Delta, Lambda, Epsilon, Nu and Mu.

From Quiz Uranus: World of an Ice Giant

Answer: Cordelia

Cordelia was discovered in 1986 via images taken by the space probe, Voyager 2. It was not recorded again until 1997, when it was detected by the Hubble telescope.

From Quiz Twenty Questions About Uranus

Answer: 84

Since Uranus' discovery, it has only revolved around the Sun about 2 1/2 times!

From Quiz Uranus, the Sky-king Star

Answer: Characters from the works of Shakespeare and Pope

Unlike any other planet, Uranus' moons are not named after mythical beings relating to it, such as water spirits for Neptune or giants for Jupiter. Some examples are Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, and Sycorax.

From Quiz Twenty Questions About Uranus

Answer: One

Only Voyager 2 flew by Uranus on January 24, 1986.

From Quiz Let's Not Joke About Uranus

Answer: Methane

Once again, with methane and Uranus, I am treading cautiously on a thin ice giant. Methane makes up a fraction more than two percent of the planet's atmosphere. When sunlight tries to pass through the atmosphere it is reflected back by Uranus' clouds. But, before it does, the methane in the atmosphere absorbs all of the red portions of the light's spectrum, leaving only the blue-green to be reflected back.

From Quiz Why Not Poke a Little Fun at Uranus?

Answer: 160 minutes

It takes light from the Sun 159.6 minutes to reach Uranus; after all, they're about 1.8 billion miles apart. It's quite impossible, however, for sunlight to penetrate the thick clouds surrounding Uranus.

From Quiz Uranus: World of an Ice Giant

Answer: Methane

The Sun's red light is absorbed by the methane in Uranus' upper atmosphere. The methane also reflects the Sun's blue light into space and propels blue light at our eyes, which is why Uranus has a blue-green hue.

From Quiz Uranus, the Sky-king Star

Answer: Saturn

The Cassini space probe was being considered for a 12 year journey to Uranus from 2013 to 2025, however this was considered inefficient, and it was instead decided that the Cassini mission would end by destroying the probe in Saturn's atmosphere.

From Quiz Twenty Questions About Uranus

Answer: 51,000 kilometers

Almost four times the diameter of Earth. Uranus is the third largest planet.

From Quiz Let's Not Joke About Uranus

Answer: 63 times

That means you can fit 63 Earths into Uranus (OK, enough is enough). Seriously though, Uranus has the third largest diameter of the planets in our solar system. It has a radius of 25,362 kilometres (15,759 miles), which makes it four times wider than Earth. If you're struggling to picture that, then picture a nickel alongside a softball and, relatively speaking, that would be close. (Footnote) The million dollar question hint stemmed from the phrase "the 64 million dollar question", which, generally, referred to something that was important but its outcome was unknown.

From Quiz Uranus, the Sky-king Star

Answer: Increased atmospheric activity

This was noticed with many auroras appearing on the planet's poles, along with increased cloud cover. When Voyager 2 took the first close pictures of Uranus, astronomers were surprised to find a mostly plain atmosphere.

From Quiz Why Not Poke a Little Fun at Uranus?

Answer: Up to 900 kph (560 mph)

Winds on Uranus have been measured at up to 900 kph; only Saturn and Neptune have more powerful winds. Strangely enough, winds are retrograde at the equator, meaning they blow in the reverse direction of the planet's rotation.

From Quiz Uranus: World of an Ice Giant

Answer: Miranda

Miranda was discovered by Gerard P. Kuiper in the McDonald Observatory, Texas, 1948. Miranda is around 310 miles across, and sports fault canyons around 12 times deeper than the Grand Canyon. Unlike the other main four moons of Uranus, Miranda has an orbit which is slightly inclined. Miranda was named after a character in William Shakespeare's play, "The Tempest."

From Quiz Uranus, the Sky-king Star

Answer: Zeta Tauri

The earliest confirmed observation of Uranus was in 1690, where John Flamsteed mistook the planet for a star, and designated it 34 Tauri.

From Quiz Twenty Questions About Uranus

Answer: Hydrogen and Helium

Similar to Jupiter and Saturn, 83% hydrogen, 15% helium and 2% methane.

From Quiz Uranus, the Sky-king Star

Answer: An ice giant

Uranus, along with Neptune, are sometimes considered to be a different type of planet than Jupiter and Saturn. Some models suggest that they formed differently, and were once much closer to the Sun than they are now.

From Quiz Let's Not Joke About Uranus

Answer: 9 ½ years

The question I really wanted to ask was "how long would it take to get from the Earth to Uranus"? However, that answer was dependent on too many variables. The main ones being the path that would be chosen and where the two planets were in relation to their orbits when you chose to undertake the mission. If we wanted to compare by distance alone, the distance from the Earth to the sun is described as an astronomical unit (AU). Uranus is 19.8 astronomical units away from the sun. Sunlight would take two hours and 40 minutes to reach Uranus. Voyager 2 didn't quite travel at the speed of light, it left Earth on August 20, 1977 and reached Uranus on January 24, 1986.

From Quiz Uranus: World of an Ice Giant

Answer: 84

During certain times of Uranus' orbit, one pole or the other will be facing directly at the Sun, getting 42 years of direct sunlight. Other than at this time, the planet is dark.

From Quiz Uranus, the Sky-king Star

Answer: Mesosphere

Uranus is not the only gas giant planet lacking a mesosphere. In our own Solar System, Jupiter also lacks one, and spectroscopic scans of exoplanets has suggested that they too may lack this layer.

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Last Updated Dec 28 2024 5:54 AM

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