Uranus

You can hardly see planet Uranus in the sky with the naked eye ‒ it's just a very subtle faint star. Therefore it had to wait for its discovery until 1781 when astronomers finally possessed sufficiently large telescopes.



Uranus' atmosphere is very drab and its blue-green color is associated with high methane content. It's because methane scatters blue sunlight very effectively.



Uranus and Neptune belong together among so-called Ice giants. Its dense hydrogen atmosphere blended with helium turns with depth into a liquid mantle of molecular hydrogen, under which "Ice Materials " are known. This designation is yet confusing. In this case, the astronomers refer the ice to simple chemical compounds (e.g. ammonia and methane) that are inside Uranus and Neptune under enormous pressure, and thus liquid and heated to a high temperature. Iron-stone core of the planet is also very hot and liquid.



Uranus is surrounded by a system of inconspicuous dark rings and more than two dozen moons.