When was the planet Uranus discovered? Interesting and fascinating facts about the planet Uranus. Magnetosphere and planetary research

The seventh planet solar system– Uranus – was discovered only in 1781 and was named after the ancient Greek god, who was the father of Kronos. This planet is classified as one of the gaseous giant planets, along with Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune.
William Herschel, who discovered Uranus, initially mistook it for a comet. He observed the constellation Taurus, and drew attention to a celestial body located in a place that should have been empty, judging by star maps that time. The object was quite clear and was moving slowly relative to the stars.

He shared his observation with fellow astronomers, mathematicians and other scientists. European astronomers began to study the object, its distance, mass, orbit and other characteristics. Russian scientist Andrey Leksel determined the distance between the Sun and Uranus, it was as much as 18 a.m. e. (2.8 billion km). So, 2 months later, after many hours of daily observations, scientists were convinced that Herschel had discovered not a comet, but a distant seventh planet. For his discovery, he was awarded a lifetime royal payment of £200 and awarded the order. This was the first planet discovered in modern times. Uranus has expanded the boundaries of the solar system in the eyes of man since Antiquity.

Structure of Uranus

As observations from satellites show, an iron-stone core with a temperature of about 7000 K is present on Uranus, but rivers and oceans cannot be observed. The absence of metallic hydrogen reduces the amount of heat generated by the planet to 30%, so Uranus receives 70% of its thermal energy from the Sun. Immediately behind the core, a dense, very dense atmosphere begins, about 8 thousand km thick. Chemical composition The atmosphere of Uranus is as follows: 83% hydrogen (H2), 15% helium (He) and about 2% methane (CH4). Methane, like hydrogen, is accepted Active participation in the absorption of solar radiation, and therefore the infrared and red spectra. This explains blue-green color planets. Winds in the middle layers move at a speed of 250 m/s.

Uranus' axis tilt

Uranus – unique planet solar system. The tilt of the rotation axis is about 98°, which means that the planet is almost tilted on its side. For clarity: if all the planets look like a spinning top, then Uranus is more like a rolling bowling ball. Because of this unusual position, the changes of day and night and seasons on the planet are, to put it mildly, unconventional. It turns out that 42 years, one pole is in the dark, the Sun is shining on the other, and then they change. Scientists explain this strange position of the planet by a collision with another celestial body (possibly another planet) that occurred millions of years ago.

Moons of Uranus

At the beginning of the third millennium, 27 satellites of the planet Uranus were discovered and explored. The main ones are the 5 largest satellites. The largest satellite, Titania, has a diameter of only 1570 km, which is very small compared to the satellites of the other planets. Oberon is the second largest satellite of Uranus. He and Titania were discovered by the same Herschel, who discovered the planet itself. Next come even smaller satellites: Umbriel, Ariel and Miranda. An interesting fact is that the names of all the satellites of Uranus were given in honor of the heroes of the immortal works of William Shakespeare.

Characteristics of Uranus

Mass: 8.69*1025 kg (14 times more than Earth)
Diameter at equator: 51,118 km (4 times larger than Earth)
Diameter at the pole: 49946 km
Axis tilt: 98°
Density: 1.27 g/cm³
Temperature of the upper layers: about –220 °C
Period of rotation around the axis (days): 17 hours 15 minutes
Distance from the Sun (average): 19 a. e. or 2.87 billion km
Orbital period around the Sun (year): 84.5 years
Orbital speed: 6.8 km/s
Orbital eccentricity: e = 0.044
Orbital inclination to the ecliptic: i = 0.773°
Gravity acceleration: about 9 m/s²
Satellites: there are 27 pcs.

The planet Uranus owes its discovery to Herschel, who studied the sky through a telescope he designed.

Before its discovery, the planet Uranus was repeatedly noticed and mistakenly classified as a star. Among the stationary celestial bodies, the English astronomer noticed one moving along a trajectory and differing from the rest in color. So, in late XVIII century, a new planet was discovered. The discoverer wanted to glorify the king in the chosen name George III, but his idea was not successful. A few years later, the German Bonet, who continued studying the unknown body, proposed the name of the Greek god - Uranus, which was recognized by the public.

Location

Uranus managed to remain undetected for so long because of its exceptional distance from the star. The distance from the Sun to the distant giant is 2.8 billion km. This is the seventh planet in our system. Astronomers classify it as a gas giant. The colossal distance from the source of heat and energy made Uranus the coldest planet among all those studied. Record low temperatures were recorded on the surface of the giant; it drops to -220 degrees Celsius.

Features of the planet

Uranus is unique in its location, its axis is tilted at 98 degrees, which forces the original planet to orbit while lying on its side. In this position, the main flow is directed towards the pole areas solar energy, but, contrary to logical conclusions, the temperature at the equator has higher values. The direction of rotation of the ice giant is the opposite of its orbital motion. Uranus makes one revolution in 84 Earth years, and a day passes in 17 hours; this period is calculated approximately due to the uneven movement of the gaseous surface.

Features of structure and atmosphere

Weight celestial body is 8.68x10 in 25 kg, it is less than the weight of the gas giants located nearby. This is due to the minimum density of the planet - 1.27 g/cm3, which is based on light components. Its structure includes a core of iron and stone; the mantle - the icy body that makes up most of the giant, and the atmosphere. This model was developed theoretically, it was based on the study gravitational influence Uranus to satellites. The spectacular blue glow of the planet is given by the presence of methane particles in the upper layers, its mass fraction is 2%. The basis of the gas shell is hydrogen – 82% and helium – 15%. The remainder is divided into ammonia and acetylene. The mantle is not an icy shell in the physical sense - it is a modified mixture of water and ammonia. There is no solid surface on the planet; this level is calculated conventionally based on pressure indicators.

The lower region of the atmosphere is dynamic and subject to hurricane winds. Above it there is a tropopause with clouds of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. Seasons on Uranus last several years, during which time one hemisphere is deprived sunlight. The planet's magnetic field is powerful and complex, its axis is shifted from the axis of rotation by 60 degrees.

Rings of Uranus

The planet is surrounded by its own, consisting of particles of different diameters. Having a dark color, they do not stand out and are difficult to notice. They were only reviewed in 1977. There are 13 rings - 11 internal and 2 external, having a colored spectrum.

Satellites

Uranus is not alone in space; its company is shared by 27 large and small satellites. Two of them were discovered in 1787 by William Herschel, and 80 years later the next pair was discovered. The last of the five large satellites was noticed almost a century later. These space objects are spherical in shape, their bodies are made of ice and stone. Each of them has its own characteristics: - the moon closest to Uranus, - has a very dark surface, - the youngest and lightest, - cut by craters, traces of past volcanic activity. similar in size and appearance to Oberon - these are the two largest satellites. 22 objects were discovered later, using powerful telescopes and the "" apparatus. For titles, it is customary to use the names of characters in works by Shakespeare and Pope.

Basic parameters of the planet

Weight: 86.832 x 10*24 kg
Volume: 6833 x 10*10 km3
Average radius: 25362 km
Average diameter: 50724 km
Average density 1.270 g/cm3
First escape velocity: 21.3 km/s
Gravity acceleration: 8.87 m/s 2
Natural satellites: 27
Presence of rings - yes
Semi-major axis: 2872460000 km
Orbital period: 30685.4 days
Perihelion: 2741300000 km
Aphelion: 3003620000 km
Average orbital speed: 6.81 km/s
Orbital inclination: 0.772°
Orbital eccentricity: 0.0457
Stellar rotation period: 17.24 hours
Length of day: 17.24 hours
Axial tilt: 97.77°
Opening date: March 13, 1781
Minimum distance from Earth: 2581900000 km
Maximum distance from Earth: 3157300000 km
Maximum visible diameter from Earth: 4.1 arcseconds
Minimum visible diameter from Earth: 3.3 arcseconds
Maximum magnitude: 5.32

Unlike other giant planets, the axis of rotation of Uranus is almost in the plane of the orbit, i.e., the inclination of the equator to the orbit is 82°. Uranus, as it were, “lies on its side,” so the duration of the polar day and night in latitude, which is 42 years at the poles, 28 years at a latitude of 60°, 14 years at a latitude of 30°.

Uranus has a small solid iron-stone core, above which a dense, powerful atmosphere, at least 8000 km thick, immediately begins. It consists of 83% hydrogen, 15% helium and 2% methane (Fig. 1).

General characteristics of the planet Uranus

Methane, acetylene and other hydrocarbons in the atmosphere of Uranus are found in much larger quantities than on Jupiter and Saturn. It is the methane haze that absorbs red rays well, which is why Uranus appears blue. Like others gas planets, it has bands of clouds that move very quickly.

The average temperature on the planet's surface is 200 °C. Winter and summer on Uranus are very different: the entire hemisphere hides from the Sun for several years in winter. It doesn’t get hot there in summer either, since Uranus receives 370 times less heat from the Sun than the Earth. Mid-latitude winds on Uranus will move clouds in the same directions as on Earth. They blow at speeds from 40 to 160 m/s (on Earth - about 50 m/s).

Rice. 1. Composition of the atmosphere of Uranus

Uranus was discovered on March 13, 1791 by an English astronomer of German origin William Ger walked and ate(1738-1822) (Fig. 55). In 1787, he discovered the first two satellites and gave them the names Oberon and Titania in honor of the king and queen of the fairies from W. Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream. This marked the beginning of the tradition of naming new satellites in honor of the characters in William Shakespeare's plays: Desdemona, Cordelia, Ophelia, Juliet, Rosalind, Belinda, Caliban, etc. The largest of them is Titania, with a diameter of 1580 km. In total, Uranus has more than 20 satellites.

In 1977, rings around Uranus were discovered from Earth, then this discovery was confirmed by photographs from the Voyager 2 probe, which flew near Uranus on January 24, 1986.

Uranus– the seventh planet of the solar system and the ice giant: description with photos, size, axis tilt, distance from the Sun, atmosphere, satellites, rings, research.

Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and the third largest planet in the solar system after Jupiter and Saturn. It has a collection of satellites and a ring system.

Although it can be found without the use of magnifying instruments, its planetary status was only discovered in the 18th century. Let's take a closer look Interesting Facts about Uranus for children and adults.

Interesting facts about the planet Uranus

Discovered by William Herschel in 1781

• This is a dim planet, so it was inaccessible to ancient people. At first, Herschel thought he was seeing a comet, but after a couple of years the object received planetary status. The scientist wanted to call it “Georg’s Star,” but Johann Bode’s version was better suited.

Axial rotation takes 17 hours and 14 minutes

• The planet Uranus is characterized by retrograde, which does not coincide with the general direction.

A year lasts 84 years

• But some areas are directed directly towards the Sun and this lasts for about 42 years. The rest of the time is spent in darkness.

It's an ice giant

• Like other gas giants, the top layer of Uranus is composed of hydrogen and helium. But below is an icy mantle, concentrated above an icy and rocky core. Upper atmosphere– water, ammonia and methane ice crystals.

Frost Planet

• With a temperature of -224°C, it is considered the coldest planet. Periodically, Neptune cools even more, but most of the time Uranus freezes. The upper atmospheric layer is covered with a methane haze, hiding storms.

There are two sets of thin rings

• The particles are extremely small. There are 11 inner and 2 outer rings. Formed during the crash of ancient satellites. The first rings were noticed only in 1977, and the rest were seen in Hubble telescope images in 2003-2005.

The moons are named after literary characters.

• All the moons of Uranus are named after the characters of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. Miranda is considered the most interesting with icy canyons and a strange surface.

Sent one mission

• Voyager 2 visited Uranus in 1986 at a distance of 81,500 km.

Size, mass and orbit of the planet Uranus

With a radius of 25360 km, volume – 6.833 × 10 13 km 3 and mass – 8.68 × 10 25 kg, the planet Uranus is 4 times larger than Earth and is 63 times larger than it in volume. But do not forget that this is a gas giant with a density of 1.27 g/cm 3, so here it is inferior to us.

Polar compression	0,02293
Equatorial	25,559 km
Polar radius	24,973 km
Surface area	8.1156 10 9 km²
Volume	6.833 10 13 km³
Weight	8.6832 10 25 kg 14.6 earth
Average density	1.27 g/cm³
Acceleration free falls at the equator	8.87 m/s²
Second escape velocity	21.3 km/s
Equatorial speed rotation	2.59 km/s 9,324 km/h
Rotation period	0.71833 days
Axis tilt	97.77°
Right ascension north pole	257.311°
North pole declination	−15.175°
Albedo	0.300 (Bond) 0.51 (geom.)
Apparent magnitude	5,9 - 5,32
Angular diameter	3,3"-4,1"

Uranus has the greatest variable distance from the Sun. In fact, the distance varies between 2,735,118,110 km and 3,006,224,700 km. With an average distance of 3 billion km, one orbital passage takes 84 years.

The rotation of the axis lasts 17 hours and 14 minutes (that's how long a day on Uranus takes). A strong wind in the direction of rotation is noticeable in the upper atmospheric layer. At some latitudes, masses move faster and complete a revolution in 14 hours.

The amazing thing is that this planet rotates almost on its side. While some have a slight axial tilt, Uranus’s index reaches 98°. Because of this, the planet is going through dramatic changes. At the equator, night and day last normally, but at the poles they span 42 years!

Composition and surface of the planet Uranus

The planetary structure is represented by three layers: a rocky core, an icy mantle and an outer shell of hydrogen (83%) and helium (15%) in a gaseous state. There is another important element - 2.3% methane ice, which affects the blue color of Uranus. Various hydrocarbons can be found in the stratosphere, including ethane, diacetylene, acetylene and methyl acetylene. In the bottom photo you can carefully study the structure of Uranus.

Using spectroscopy, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide were detected in the upper layers, as well as ice clouds of water vapor and ammonia with hydrogen sulfide. That is why Uranus and Neptune are called ice giants.

The ice mantle is represented by a hot and dense liquid, which contains water, ammonia and other volatile substances. The liquid (water-ammonia ocean) is characterized by high electrical conductivity.

The mass of the core reaches only 0.55 of the Earth's, and its radius is 20% of the total planetary size. The mantle is 13.4 Earth masses, and the upper atmospheric layer is 0.5 Earth masses.

The core density is 9 g/cm3, where the pressure in the center rises to 8 million bar and the temperature is 5000K.

Moons of the planet Uranus

The family consists of 27 known moons of Uranus, divided into large, internal and irregular. The largest are Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Oberon and Titania. Their diameter exceeds 472 km, and their mass is 6.7 x 10 19 kg for Miranda, as well as 1578 km and 3.5 x 10 21 kg for Titania.

It is believed that all large moons appeared in an accretion disk that was present around the planet for a long time after its formation. Each is presented practically equal ratio rock and ice. The only standout is Miranda, who is almost entirely made of ice.

You can also note the presence of ammonia, carbon dioxide, and rock - carbonaceous material and organic compounds. It is believed that in Titania and Oberon, a liquid water ocean may exist at the line between the core and the mantle. The surface is generously dotted with craters. Ariel is considered the youngest and “purest”, but Umbriel is an old woman with scars.

The main satellites have no atmosphere, and the orbital path results in strong seasonal variations. There are 13 inner moons: Cordelia, Ophelia, Biyanka, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, Cupid, Belinda, Perdita, Puck and Mab. All of them received their names in honor of the heroes of Shakespeare's works. The photo shows the moons and rings of Uranus.

The inner satellites have a strong connection with the planet's ring system. With a diameter of 162 km, Pak is considered the largest moon in this group and the only one whose image was captured by Voyager 2.

They all appear as dark bodies. Formed from water ice with dark organic material. The system is unstable and models indicate that a collision may occur. Desdemona and Cressida are of particular concern.

There are 9 irregular satellites whose orbit is further than Oberon. They were captured after the formation of the planet itself: Francisco, Caliban, Stefano, Trinculo, Sycorax, Margarita, Prospero, Setebos and Ferdinand. They cover 18-150 km. Everyone rotates in a retrograde direction, except Margarita.

Atmosphere and temperature of the planet Uranus

The atmosphere of Uranus is also divided into layers determined by temperature and pressure. It is a gas giant and therefore lacks a solid surface. Remote probes are capable of going down to 300 km in depth.

We can distinguish the troposphere (300 km below the surface and 50 km above it with a pressure of 100-0.1 bar) and the stratosphere (50-4000 km and 0.1-10 10 bar).

The densest layer is the troposphere, where heating reaches 46.85°C and drops to -220°C. The upper region is considered the frostiest in the system. Most of the IR rays are created in the tropopause.

Here there are clouds: water, below are ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, and above are thin methane clouds. In the stratosphere, temperatures vary from -220°C to 557°C due to solar radiation. This layer is marked by ethane smog, which creates appearance planets. There are acetylene and methane, which heat this ball.

The thermosphere and corona cover 4000-50000 km from the "surface" point, where the temperature remains at 577°C. So far, no one knows exactly how the planet manages to warm up so much, because it is far from the Sun, and there is not enough internal heat.

The weather is reminiscent of older gas giants. There are stripes that orbit the planet. As a result, winds accelerate to 900 km/h, leading to large-scale storms. In 2012, the Hubble telescope spotted the Dark Spot, a giant vortex extending over 1,700 km x 3,000 km.

Rings of the planet Uranus

The rings of the planet Uranus are made up of dark particles ranging in size from a micrometer to a fraction of a meter, so they are not so easy to see. Now we can identify 13 rings, among which the brightest is epsilon. Apart from two narrow ones, they stretch for several kilometers in width.

The rings are young and formed after the planet itself. There is an opinion that they are part of a destroyed moon (or several). One of the first observations of rings was made by James Elliott, Jessica Mink and Edward Dunham in 1977. During the eclipse of the star HD 128598, they found 5 formations.

The rings also appeared in photographs taken by Voyager 2 in 1986. And new ones were discovered by the Hubble telescope in 2005. The largest is twice as wide as the planet. In 2006, the Keck Observatory showed the rings in color: the outer rings are blue and the inner ones are red. The rest appear grey.

History of the study of the planet Uranus

Uranus is on the list of five planets that could be seen with the naked eye. But this is a dim object, and the orbital path is too slow, so the ancients believed that this was a classical star. An early review is by Hipparchus, who pointed out the body as a star in 128 BC. e.

Characteristics of the planet:

• Distance from the Sun: 2,896.6 million km
• Planet diameter: 51,118 km*
• Day on the planet: 17h 12min**
• Year on the planet: 84.01 years***
• t° on the surface: -210°C
• Atmosphere: 83% hydrogen; 15% helium; 2% methane
• Satellites: 17

* diameter along the planet's equator
**period of rotation around own axis(in earth days)
***period of orbit around the Sun (in Earth days)

The development of optics in modern times led to the fact that on March 13, 1781, the boundaries of the solar system were expanded with the discovery of the planet Uranus, the discovery was made by William Herschel.

Presentation: planet Uranus

This is the seventh planet in the solar system, it has 27 satellites and 13 rings.

Internal structure

The internal structure of Uranus can only be determined indirectly. The mass of the planet, equal to 14.5 Earth masses, was determined by scientists after studying the gravitational influence of the planet on the satellites. There is an assumption that in the center of Uranus there is a rocky core, which mainly consists of silicon oxides. Its diameter should be 1.5 times greater than the diameter of the earth's core. Then there should be a shell of ice and stones, and after that an ocean of liquid hydrogen. According to another point of view, Uranus does not have a core at all, and the entire planet is a huge ball of ice and liquid, surrounded by a blanket of gas.

Atmosphere and surface

The atmosphere of Uranus is mainly composed of hydrogen, methane and water. This is practically the entire basic composition of the planet’s interior. The density of Uranus is higher than that of Jupiter or Saturn; on average it is 1.58 g/cm3. This suggests that Uranus consists partly of helium or has a core consisting of heavy elements. Methane and hydrocarbons are present in the atmosphere of Uranus. Its clouds are made up of hard ice and ammonia.

Satellites of the planet Saturn

The planet, like the other two large giants Jupiter and Saturn, has its own ring system. They were discovered not so long ago in 1977, completely by accident during a routine observation of an eclipse under Uranus of one of the shining stars. The fact is that the rings of Uranus have an extremely weak ability to reflect light, so no one had any idea about their presence until that time. Further spacecraft Voyager 2 confirmed the presence of a ring system around Uranus.

The planet's satellite was discovered much earlier, back in 1787 by the same astronomer William Herschel, who discovered the planet itself. The first two satellites discovered were Titania and Oberon. They are the largest satellites of the planet and consist mainly of gray ice. In 1851, British astronomer William Lassell discovered two more satellites - Ariel and Umbriel. , and almost 100 years later in 1948, astronomer Gerald Kuiper found the fifth moon of Uranus, Miranda. Later, the Voyager 2 interplanetary probe will discover 13 more satellites of the planet; several more satellites were recently discovered, so currently 27 satellites of Uranus are already known.

In 1977, an unusual ring system was discovered on Uranus. Their main difference from Saturn's is that they consist of extremely dark particles. The rings can only be detected when the light from the stars behind them is greatly dimmed.

Uranus has 4 large satellites: Titania, Oberon, Ariel, Umbriel, perhaps they have a crust, core and mantle. The size of the planetary system is also unusual; it is very small. The farthest satellite, Oberon, orbits 226,000 km from the planet, while the closest satellite, Miranda, orbits just 130,000 km away.

This the only planet solar system axis, which is tilted to the orbit by more than 90 degrees. Accordingly, it turns out that the planet seems to be “lying on its side.” It is believed that this happened due to a collision of a giant with huge asteroid, which led to a shift in the poles. Summer at the south pole lasts for 42 Earth years, during which time the sun never leaves the sky, but in winter, on the contrary, impenetrable darkness reigns for 42 years.

It is the coldest planet in the solar system, with the lowest recorded temperature being -224°C. Constant winds blow on Uranus, the speed of which ranges from 140 to 580 km/h.

Exploring the Planet

The only spacecraft to reach Uranus is Voyager 2. The data received from it was simply amazing; it turns out that the planet has 4 magnetic poles, 2 main and 2 minor. Temperature measurements were also made at different poles of the planet, which also confused scientists. The temperature on the planet is constant and varies by about 3-4 degrees. Scientists cannot yet explain the reason, but it is believed that this is due to the saturation of the atmosphere with water vapor. Then the movement of air masses in the atmosphere is similar to terrestrial sea currents.

The mysteries of the solar system have not yet been revealed, and Uranus is one of its most mysterious representatives. The mass of information received from Voyager 2 only slightly lifted the veil of secrecy, but on the other hand, these discoveries led to even greater mysteries and questions.