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    Planet

    Uranus

    An ice giant tipped on its side, orbiting with its poles toward the Sun.

    • Axial tilt of about 98°
    • Each pole gets about 42 years of continuous sunlight
    • Has 13 known faint rings

    Key facts

    Mean diameter
    50,724 km
    Mass
    8.68 × 10^25 kg (14.5 Earths)
    Surface gravity
    8.7 m/s² (0.887 g)
    Escape velocity
    21.3 km/s
    Mean temperature
    -195 °C
    Rotation period
    17.2 hours (retrograde)
    Orbital period
    30,589 days
    Mean distance from the Sun
    2,867 million km
    Sunlight travel time
    2 h 39 min
    Axial tilt
    97.8°
    Confirmed moons
    29

    Moon counts as reported after the IAU Minor Planet Center announcements of March 2026. Counts change as new discoveries are confirmed.

    Atmosphere

    Hydrogen, helium and methane; methane absorbs red light, giving the blue-green colour.

    Composition and structure

    Ice giant: a mantle of water, ammonia and methane ices around a small rocky core.

    Discovery and exploration

    Discovered by William Herschel in 1781, the first planet found with a telescope. Voyager 2 made the only flyby in 1986. A Uranus orbiter and probe was ranked the top new flagship priority by the 2023–2032 US planetary decadal survey.

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