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The atmosphere of Uranus is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium. At depth, it is significantly enriched in volatiles (dubbed "ices") such as water , ammonia , and methane . The opposite is true for the upper atmosphere, which contains very few gases heavier than hydrogen and helium due to its low temperature.
Uranus's upper atmosphere imaged by HST during the Outer Planet Atmosphere Legacy (OPAL) observing program. [ 109 ] The middle layer of the Uranian atmosphere is the stratosphere , where temperature generally increases with altitude from 53 K (−220 °C; −364 °F) in the tropopause to between 800 and 850 K (527 and 577 °C; 980 and 1,070 °F ...
HST images show changes in the atmosphere of Uranus as it approaches its equinox (right image) The majority of this variability is believed to occur due to changes in the viewing geometry. Uranus is an oblate spheroid, which causes its visible area to become larger when viewed from the poles.
Uranus, blue-green in color due to the methane contained in an atmosphere comprised mostly of hydrogen and helium, has a diameter of about 31,500 miles (50,700 km). It is big enough to fit 63 ...
In the 1990s, it was determined that Uranus and Neptune were a distinct class of giant planet, separate from the other giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn, which are gas giants predominantly composed of hydrogen and helium. [1] Neptune and Uranus are now referred to as ice giants. Lacking well-defined solid surfaces, they are primarily composed ...
Rings, moons, storms and a bright polar cap all shine in a new image of Uranus captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. Uranus’ mysterious features on display in new Webb image Skip to main ...
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' 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]