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The pronunciation of the name Uranus preferred among astronomers is / ˈ jʊər ə n ə s / YOOR-ə-nəs, [1] with the long "u" of English and stress on the first syllable as in Latin Uranus, in contrast to / j ʊ ˈ r eɪ n ə s / yoo-RAY-nəs, with stress on the second syllable and a long a, though both are considered acceptable. [g]
For this reason, scientists often classify Uranus and Neptune as "ice giants" to distinguish them from the gas giants. Uranus's atmosphere is similar to Jupiter's and Saturn's in its primary composition of hydrogen and helium, but it contains more "ices" such as water, ammonia, and methane, along with traces of other hydrocarbons.
Uranus was the last giant planet without any known irregular moons until 1997, when astronomers using ground-based telescopes discovered Sycorax and Caliban. From 1999 to 2003, astronomers continued searching for irregular moons of Uranus using more powerful ground-based telescopes, resulting in the discovery of seven more Uranian irregular ...
In Greek mythology, Uranus (/ ˈ j ʊər ə n ə s / YOOR-ə-nəs, also / j ʊ ˈ r eɪ n ə s / yoo-RAY-nəs), [2] sometimes written Ouranos (Ancient Greek: Οὐρανός, lit. 'sky', ), is the personification of the sky and one of the Greek primordial deities.
Because during their formation Uranus and Neptune incorporated their material as either ice or gas trapped in water ice, the term ice giant came into use. [ 2 ] [ 4 ] In the early 1970s, the terminology became popular in the science fiction community, e.g., Bova (1971), [ 5 ] but the earliest scientific usage of the terminology was likely by ...
A giant planet, sometimes referred to as a jovian planet (Jove being another name for the Roman god Jupiter), is a diverse type of planet much larger than Earth. Giant planets are usually primarily composed of low-boiling point materials (), rather than rock or other solid matter, but massive solid planets can also exist.
Uranus is the third-largest and fourth most massive planet in the Solar System. It orbits the Sun at a distance of about 2.8 billion kilometers (1.7 billion miles) and completes one orbit every 84 years. The length of a day on Uranus as measured by Voyager 2 is 17 hours and 14 minutes. Uranus is distinguished by the fact that it is tipped on ...
This article includes a list of the most massive known objects of the Solar System and partial lists of smaller objects by observed mean radius. These lists can be sorted according to an object's radius and mass and, for the most massive objects, volume, density, and surface gravity, if these values are available.