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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]
The two innermost moons, Cordelia and Ophelia, are shepherds of Uranus's ε ring, whereas the small moon Mab is a source of Uranus's outermost μ ring. [12] There may be two additional small (2–7 km in radius) undiscovered shepherd moons located about 100 km exterior to Uranus's α and β rings .
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.
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.
Three-decade old data may have just led scientists to make a new discovery about Uranus.
Uranus' ring system was the second to be discovered in the Solar System, after that of Saturn. [9] In 1982, on the fifth anniversary of the rings' discovery, Uranus along with the eight other planets recognized at the time (i.e. including Pluto) aligned on the same side of the Sun. [10] [11]
The exceptions are Venus [78] and Uranus, [79] which rotate clockwise, though Uranus's extreme axial tilt means there are differing conventions on which of its poles is "north", and therefore whether it is rotating clockwise or anti-clockwise. [80] Regardless of which convention is used, Uranus has a retrograde rotation relative to its orbit. [79]
Mab, or Uranus XXVI, [7] is an inner satellite of Uranus.It was discovered by Mark R. Showalter and Jack J. Lissauer in 2003 using the Hubble Space Telescope. [8] It was named after Queen Mab, a fairy queen from English folklore who is mentioned in William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet.