Uranus was discovered in 1781 by Sir William Herschel. He used a telescope having a diameter of 17.8 cm. Uranus has 5 sub-planets.
Uranus completes one revolution around the Sun in 84 years, but it makes one rotation about the axis in 10 hours and 48 minutes. Its diameter is 51,600 km and density is 1.36. It is 15 times heavier than the Earth.
The greenish color of Uranus' atmosphere comes from methane and high-altitude photochemical smog. Many broad lanes of dust surround the 9 main rings of Uranus. The discovery of two shepherd satellites has advanced our understanding of the structure of the Uranian rings. The moons, baptized 1986U7 (Cordelia) and 1986U8 (Ophelia), are believed to confine other rings by their gravitational effects.
Miranda is the inner-most of the large satellites of Uranus. Its surface is made mainly of rolling plains with craters, that probably date back to the early days of the solar system, when impact occurrences were extremely high. Half of Miranda's surface is younger based on the fewer number of craters; it consists of complex sets of parallel and intersecting scarps and ridges.
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