Which planet is sideways

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Environment As the EU targets emissions cuts, this country has a coal problem. Paid Content How Hong Kong protects its sea sanctuaries. Uranus took shape when the rest of the solar system formed about 4. Like its neighbor Neptune, Uranus likely formed closer to the Sun and moved to the outer solar system about 4 billion years ago, where it is the seventh planet from the Sun.

Uranus is one of two ice giants in the outer solar system the other is Neptune. Near the core, it heats up to 9, degrees Fahrenheit 4, degrees Celsius. Uranus is slightly larger in diameter than its neighbor Neptune, yet smaller in mass.

It is the second least dense planet; Saturn is the least dense of all. Uranus gets its blue-green color from methane gas in the atmosphere. Sunlight passes through the atmosphere and is reflected back out by Uranus' cloud tops. Methane gas absorbs the red portion of the light, resulting in a blue-green color. The planet is mostly swirling fluids.

The extreme pressures and temperatures would destroy a metal spacecraft. Uranus' atmosphere is mostly hydrogen and helium, with a small amount of methane and traces of water and ammonia. The methane gives Uranus its signature blue color. While Voyager 2 saw only a few discrete clouds, a Great Dark Spot, and a small dark spot during its flyby in — more recent observations reveal that Uranus exhibits dynamic clouds as it approaches equinox, including rapidly changing bright features.

Uranus' planetary atmosphere, with a minimum temperature of 49K Wind speeds can reach up to miles per hour kilometers per hour on Uranus.

But closer to the poles, winds shift to a prograde direction, flowing with Uranus' rotation. Uranus has an unusual, irregularly shaped magnetosphere. Magnetic fields are typically in alignment with a planet's rotation, but Uranus' magnetic field is tipped over: the magnetic axis is tilted nearly 60 degrees from the planet's axis of rotation, and is also offset from the center of the planet by one-third of the planet's radius.

Auroras on Uranus are not in line with the poles like they are on Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn due to the lopsided magnetic field. Such an object would have been sufficient mass and size to create a big collision, but small enough to strip Uranus of less than 10 percent of its atmosphere. The object, according to the research, is likely closer to two Earth masses, as this would have kicked up more of the gas and dust that went on to form the inner Uranian moons.

Uranus has 27 moons, but 13 of them are considered "inner" moons. Some of the mass from the planet would have been incorporated into Uranus, some went into the moons, and the rest possibly escaped the system entirely. Planetary collisions in the early solar system weren't uncommon. The next-generation radiometer is being developed to study the atmospheres of Uranus or Neptune, but could be used to study any atmosphere. Meet the women leading two of humankind's two most distant space missions.

Women at the Helm. Hubble uncovered a new dark storm on Neptune and provided a fresh look at a long-lived storm on Uranus. Hydrogen sulfide, the gas that gives rotten eggs their distinctive odor, has been verified as one of the key components of clouds at Uranus. We're talking about the ice giants. These are two enormous planets in our outer solar system: Uranus and Neptune.

Ten things to know about Voyager 2 on the 40th anniversary of its launch. In a flurry of new moon discoveries in late and early , it was announced by this author - and several other sources - that the planet Uranus had 21 moons. Stone, JPL's director since , is stepping down on May 1.

A Conversation with Dr. Ed Stone. The first unmanned space probe flyby in history of the planet Uranus by Voyager 2 on January 24, should have been an exciting one in the history of planetary exploration.