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THE SOLAR SYSTEM
| SOL | MERCURY | VENUS | EARTH | METEORS | MOON | MARS | ASTEROIDS | JUPITER | SATURN | URANUS | NEPTUNE | PLUTO | COMETS |
Ancient tiled floor mosaic of Uranus and Gaia, Sentinum, Italy, circa 275 AD.
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| SOL | MERCURY | VENUS | EARTH | METEORS | MOON | MARS | ASTEROIDS | JUPITER | SATURN | URANUS | NEPTUNE | PLUTO | COMETS |
As we move outwards from the Asteroid Belt into the outer solar system, we encounter three successive generations of gods, from Jupiter to his father Saturn, and finally on to Saturn's father Uranus (from the Greek Ouranus, meaning sky). Uranus had no father. He was the first father, formed by Gaia (Mother Earth) out of her own substance, back at the beginning of time when she was alone in the midst of chaos. Uranus was the sky, perched on the mountain tops, and he showered his seed down on Gaia, and she gave birth to plants and animals and gods and men.
Uranus, the planet, is indeed perched on the distant mountain tops of the solar system. Just as Saturn was twice as far from the Sun as Jupiter, Uranus is twice again as far from the Sun as Saturn: 1.8 billion miles (2.88 billion kms). It has a diameter of 31,770 miles (51,118 kms) - many times larger than Earth - but because of its great distance, it appears as nothing more than a small blue star in all but the largest telescopes. The above NASA infrared photos show both sides of the planet, its faint rings, and a few of its 27 moons.
Uranus is unique in the solar system in that it is tilted 98 degrees to the plane of its orbit, so that it travels around the sun sideways - so to speak. One day on Uranus lasts 17.25 hours, and one year lasts 84 Earth years.
In January, 2006, the Hubble Space Telescope found two new moons and two new rings around Uranus. The NASA diagram below illustrates their exact location in the Uranus ring/moon system.
Uranus is the farthest planet discernible as such in a backyard telescope. It can be a bit of a challenge to find, and you should have at least a six inch scope and use the highest magnification you can. But if the "seeing" is good, you will be treated to the delightful sight of a little turquoise blue disk, very discernible from the twinkling points of light around it that are the faraway stars. And you will wonder at the magic of being able to watch an alien blue world that is almost two billion miles away.
The finder chart below will help you find Uranus. Being so far away, it moves slowly across the sky, so once you've found it, it's easy to find it again. Every six months or so, as Earth moves around the Sun, Uranus appears to change direction in the sky, and move back the way it came. As the chart shows, it changes direction in December, 2011, and again in July, 2012. And in September, 2012, it's almost exactly back where it was in May, 2012.
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