Abstract
The planet Uranus was discovered in 1781 by the astronomer William Herschel, who also found two of its moons, Titania and Oberon. It is an ice giant and appears a shade of bluish-green, perhaps azure or natural turquoise in color (Fig. 11.1). It spins on its axis backwards, and the theory is that something large, perhaps another planet, hit Uranus, causing it to be tilted on its side, so it spins on its side when orbiting the Sun. All of its moons line up with this tilted axis.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Alexander, R. (2015). Uranus and Neptune in the Icy Depths. In: Myths, Symbols and Legends of Solar System Bodies. The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series, vol 177. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7067-0_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7067-0_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-7066-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7067-0
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)