URANUS AND NEPTUNE

By: Group 4
Our planets’ rotation
Uranus
 Uranus
 is the 7th planet in the Solar System
 3rd of the gas giants.
 it is the 3rd largest planet by
diameter, yet 4th most massive.
 named after the father of the
Roman God Saturn.
its surface temperature is -197°C,
and it was first recorded in
March 13, 1781, by William
Hershel.
Uranus’ Data

Orbit Distance 2,870,658,186 km

Orbit Period 30,687.15 Earth days (84.02

Earth years)
Known Moons
27

Known Rings
13
Moons of
Uranus
Titania
Titania is Uranus’ largest moon and is the eighth largest moon in the
solar system.
Like many of Uranus’ moons it is named
after a character of William Shakespeare.
Titania was discovered by William
Herschel in 1787 the same day he discovered
Oberon, another of Uranus’ moons.
Oberon
Oberon is the outermost of Uranus' moons and is the second largest.
It was named after the King of the Fairies and husband of Titania in
Shakespeare's Midsummer-Night's Dream.
Oberon was discovered in 1787 by the
British astronomer, Sir William Herschel,
who also discovered Uranus. Most of what
we now know about this moon was
discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.
Facts about Uranus
 William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781. The planet is too dim
to have been seen by ancient civilizations. Herschel himself believed
that Uranus was a comet at first, but several years later it was
confirmed as a planet – making Uranus the first planet discovered in
modern history. The original name proposed by Herschel was
“Georgian Sidus” after King George III but the scientific community
didn’t take to it. Instead, Uranus was proposed and accepted by
astronomer Johann Bode and it comes from ancient Greek god
Ouranos.
Facts about Uranus
 Uranus rotates on its axis once every 17 hours and 14
minutes. Like Venus, it turns in a retrograde direction which
is opposite to the direction Earth and the other six planets
turn.

A collision may have caused the unusual tilt of Uranus. The

theory is that an Earth-sized planet may have collided with
Uranus which forced its axis to drastically shift.
Facts about Uranus
 Uranus is often referred to as the “ice giant”. While it has a
hydrogen and helium upper layer like the other gas giants, Uranus
also has an icy mantle which surrounds its rock and iron core. The
upper atmosphere of water, ammonia and methane ice crystals gives
Uranus its distinctive pale blue color.
Uranus is the coldest planet in the solar system. The minimum
surface temperature on Uranus is -224°C – making it the coldest of
the eight planets. Its upper atmosphere is covered with a haze made
mostly of methane which hides the storms taking place in its cloud
decks.
Facts about Uranus
 The Uranian moons are named for characters
created by Alexander Pope and William
Shakespeare. For example, Oberan, Titania and
Miranda. All these worlds are frozen with dark
surfaces and some are a mixture of ice and rock. Of
the Uranian moons, the most interesting is Miranda
which has ice canyons, terraces and many strange
looking surface area.
Neptune
Neptune
 Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and last of the known planets.
While it is the third largest planet with
respect to mass, it is only the fourth
largest in terms of diameter.
Due to its blue coloration, Neptune
Was named after the Roman god
of the Sea.
Neptune has 14 known moons.
Neptune’s Data

Orbit Distance km

Orbit Period 30,687.15 Earth days (165 Earth

years)
Known Moons
27

Known Rings
13
Neptune
 Every 248 years, Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for 20 years or
so, during which time it is closer to the sun than Neptune.
Nevertheless, Neptune remains the
farthest planet from the sun, since Pluto
was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006.
Neptune’s
Moons
Neptune’s Moon
Triton is the largest natural satellite of the planet Neptune, and the
first Neptunian moon to be discovered. The discovery was made on October 10,
1846, by English astronomer William Lassell.
Triton was found on Oct. 10, 1846, just 17 days
after French astronomer Alexis Bouvard
discovered Neptune. According to NASA,
Triton was known simply as “the satellite
of Neptune" until 1949, when a second
moon (Nereid) was found. All of
Neptune's moons, according to
International Astronomical Union guidelines,
are named after Roman or Greek mythological
Neptune’s Moon
Triton is the only spherical moon of Neptune-the planet's
other 13 moons are irregularly shaped.

Neptune's gravity is dragging Triton closer

to the planet, meaning that millions of years

from now, Triton will come close enough for

gravitational forces to rip it apart.

Neptune’s Moon
To NASA's knowledge, Triton is the only moon in the solar system that
orbits in a direction opposite to the rotation of its planet. Additionally,
its surface is a study of

contrasts, with smooth plains appearing to

be right next to cratered surfaces.

Thank you
for
Listening!