Uranus

Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun, and the third largest planet in our solar system. It appears to spin sideways.

About Planet Uranus

Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun, and it's the third largest planet in our solar system – about four times wider than Earth.

Uranus is a very cold and windy planet. It is surrounded by faint rings, and more than two dozen small moons as it rotates at a nearly 90-degree angle from the plane of its orbit. This unique tilt makes Uranus appear to spin on its side. Uranus is blue-green in color due to large amounts of methane, which absorbs red light but allows blues to be reflected back into space.

Get the Facts

The planet Uranus on a black background. The planet appears blue with a large, white patch taking up the right half. The patch is whitest at the center, then fades into blue at it expands from right to left. A thin outline of Uranus is also white. Around the planet is a system of nested rings. The outermost ring is the brightest while the innermost ring is the faintest. Unlike Saturn’s horizontal rings, the rings of Uranus are vertical and so they appear to surround the planet in an oval shape. There are 9 blueish white dots scattered around the rings.

This image of Uranus from the James Webb Telescope's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) shows Uranus’s seasonal north polar cap and dim inner and outer rings. This Webb image also shows 9 of the planet’s 27 moons.

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Planet Uranus by the Numbers

How far is Planet Uranus from Earth?

Use this tool to compare the ice giant to Earth, and other planets.

Compare

Pale blue planet Uranus is seen against the darkness of space in an image from the Voyager 2 spacecraft.

An image of the planet Uranus taken by the spacecraft Voyager 2 in 1986.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Planet Uranus Exploration

Only one spacecraft has explored planet Uranus.

In January 1986, Voyager 2 made a close approach to Uranus, snapping images of the planet and some its moons. A new mission to Uranus was one of the highest priority objectives outlined in the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032. The possibility of a flagship mission to Uranus will be a focus of planetary science at NASA in the years to come.

NASA's Voyager 2 lifts off on Aug. 20, 1977, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Planet Uranus Moons

Meet the Literary Moons

Uranus has 28 known moons, including five major moons: Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon. The moons are sometimes called the "literary moons" because they are named for Shakespearean characters, along with a couple of the moons being named for characters from the works of Alexander Pope.

Explore Moons of Planet Uranus

An image with a black background. The planet Uranus is a glowing orb near the center surrounded by rings. The planet appears blue with a large, white patch taking up the right half. The patch is whitest at the center, then fades into blue at it expands from right to left. A thin outline of Uranus is also white. Around the planet is a system of nested rings. There are faint orange and off-white smudges, some oval, some circular, that are background galaxies scattered throughout the image. Several bright blue point sources closer to Uranus are the planet’s moons. There is also a bright star at the left of the field, with 8 diffraction spikes.

This image of Uranus from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows the planet and distant background galaxies. This image also includes 14 of the planet’s 27 moons.

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Eyes on the Solar System lets you explore the planets, their moons, asteroids, comets and the spacecraft exploring them from 1950 to 2050.