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Uranus' narrow rings are made of dark, icy boulders. Hard to see directly, they were discovered when Uranus passed in front of a star and the rings blocked the star's light.
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Diameter: 32,000 miles
Location: 7th planet from Sun
Number of Moons: 17
Average Distance from Sun: 1.8 billion miles
First observed: 1781
Cloud Top Temperature: -320 degrees F
Orbital period: 84 Earth years
Characteristics: atmosphere made of methane, helium, and hydrogen; has a core of silicate rock; blue-green appearance caused by clouds of methane ice crystals
One of the poles of Uranus is always facing the Sun.
Fact
OR
Fiction
?
Fact
Uranus rotates on its side so at any time, one of its poles is in sunlight. At the pole, days are 42 Earth years long.
Astronomers think something smashed into Uranus.
Fact
OR
Fiction
?
Fact
Uranus may appear to "lie on its side" because a huge meteorite or other body knocked the planet over while it was forming.
Frank Summers, astrophysicist