Simple Facts About Uranus and Neptune

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6/5/2014

Simple Facts About Uranus and Neptune

                Uranus and Neptune are two more gas giants in our small, yet fascinating solar system. They are very similar to each other, like Saturn and Jupiter, but they each have their own special qualities to not be another set of twin planets. Here are some interesting (yet simple) facts that might interest you about these beauties that God created for us to enjoy.

                Uranus has a blue-green appearance, because its atmosphere is made up of helium and methane. When you look at him in the sky, it looks like he is rolling around the Sun, because his north and south pole on his sides, and not his top. That's also the reason why it looks like a loose wagon-wheel in the sky. When Uranus was discovered, it was the first time a planet had been found in an extremely long while, over hundreds of years in fact! It was actually an ordinary father and his daughter, named William (father) and Caroline (daughter) who found it. At first they thought it was a comet, but when they studied its flight pattern, they noticed that it followed the orbit like that of a planet. They were singers who were part time astronomers, but became full-time astronomers when they found Uranus. In light of their study of the planet, they found out also that it takes over eighty-four years to make a full rotation around the Sun, but a full day can happen up to seventeen hours.

                Neptune was discovered after long research and study. They noticed that Uranus looked and acted like it was being pulled by something with a gravitational force, hence they found Neptune. Methane in the atmosphere gives Neptune that fantastic blue color that we all can see through a telescope. It also can be considered either the eighth or the ninth planet from the Sun, because sometimes it crosses with Pluto's orbit. It takes Neptune 164 years to rotate the Sun, and over sixteen hours to make a full day. The Great Dark Spot (which is no longer on Neptune) was a spot where a huge storm the size of Earth, raged on day and night. Neptune's biggest moon is Triton. Triton interestingly has geysers, which spout forth different kinds of chemicals.

Image taken from:  http://www.space.com/18924-how-big-is-neptune.html