Uranus and Neptune
Uranus
The seventh planet from the sun is
much like its gaseous neighbors, with a
cloudy surface, rapid winds, and a small rocky core.
Uranus:
personification of heaven in ancient myth
Perhaps because of a collision with
a large object long ago, Uranus orbits
at an extreme tilt of 98 degrees -- sort of on its side. This causes one pole to point toward the sun for decades,
giving the planet strange seasons.
Uranus has numerous satellites and a
faint set of rings. If all the possible
satellites being studied are confirmed, Uranus would have 16 regular and five irregular moons, making it
the most populated planetary satellite
system known. Saturn is known to have 18 satellites (there may be more, but they have not been
well-documented).
Historical
notes
Uranus was thought to be a star
until William Herschel discovered in 1781
that it orbited the Sun.
Neptune
The eighth planet from the Sun --
well, some of the time its eighth, but more
on that later -- has a rocky core surrounded by ice, hydrogen, helium and methane.Like the other gas planets,
Neptune has rapidly swirling winds, but
it is thought to contain a deep ocean of water. Its quick rotation fuels fierce winds and myriad
storm systems. The planet has a faint
set of rings and 8 known moons.
Because of Plutos strange orbit,
Neptune is sometimes the most distant
planet from the Sun. Since 1979, Neptune was the ninth planet from the Sun. On February 11, 1999, it crossed
Plutos path and once again become the
eighth planet from the Sun, where will remain for 228 years.
Neptune: roman god
of water
Historical notes
Neptune was discovered in 1846 after
mathematical calculations of Uranus movements predicted the existence of
another large body.
Список литературы
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