Diane M. Huot
Uranus lies twice Saturn's distance from the Sun about 19 Astronomical Units, and is about half Saturn's size. Uranus is a gas-giant and it has a diameter of 31,765 miles (51,120 km), nearly four times the size of Earth. Like the other gas-giants it is like the Sun in composition: hydrogen and helium and traces of methane. The methane gives the planet its blue-green color.
In 1986, Voyager 2 flew by Uranus and frustrated scientists with its bland appearance. Scientist found that clouds do exist but are hidden below the bluish haze. The tilt of Uranus' axis is 98 degrees. This is a planet orbiting on its side. One pole faces the Sun for 42 Earth years, the other pole faces the night just as long. It takes Uranus 17 hours and 14 minutes to rotate once on its axis. To completely revolve around the sun it takes Uranus 84 years. At last count Uranus had 27 moons. The orbits of Uranus' moons are inclined almost at right angles to Uranus' orbit Uranus has ten rings and are much narrower than Saturn's.