![]() ![]() The rest of planet's atmosphere is largely made of hydrogen and helium, with scant amounts of ammonia, water, and methane. Uranus owes its vibrant blue-green hues not from unusual oceans but from an upper atmosphere flush with methane, which absorbs the sun's red light and scatters blue light back to our eyes. Like Saturn, Jupiter, and Neptune, Uranus is a big ball of gas, often called a jovian or gas giant world. But it is actually the third-largest planet in our solar system, and is roughly four times wider than Earth. ![]() The planet Uranus was so hard to find in part because it is a whopping 1.8 billion miles away. Instead, it got its official name from the Greek god of the sky, Uranus, who was both son and husband to Gaea, the goddess of Earth. When it was accepted as a planet years later, Herschel lobbied to call the discovery Georgium Sidus after King George III. ![]() In March 1781 British astronomer Sir William Herschel spotted the glinting object in the sky, initially mistaking it for a comet. Uranus was the first of three planets in our solar system discovered thanks to the invention of the telescope. But there's a lot to love about the icy giant, from its 13 rings to its 27 known moons to the fact that it may even rain diamonds from its hazy atmosphere. Uranus, the seventh planet from the sun, may initially look like a bland, blue-green ball. ![]()
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