Just like Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus is one of the Gas Giants. It's covered in an ocean of hydrogen... Under this, is water (which might be ice) and, then, a rocky core. The atmosphere is 84% hydrogen and 14% helium (like Jupiter). But, Uranus's atmosphere is 2% methane which is what makes Uranus look blue.

Well, there IS water... But it's underneath the hydrogen ocean, so you wouldn't be able to get to it for drinking. Also, because of this ocean, you wouldn't be able to stand anywhere. The air is poisonous to breathe too. So, nope, you can't live there!

To escape Uranus' gravity and get out into space, a rocket has to travel at a speed of 47,623 mph or 21.3 km/sec. That's about 733 times faster than your parents are allowed to drive on a U.S. highway!

Uranus has 15 moons (the date they were discovered in after each one): Cordelia (1986), Ophelia (1986), Bianca (1986), Cressida (1986), Desdemona (1986), Juliet (1986), Portia (1986), Rosalind (1986), Belinda (1986), Puck (1985), Miranda (1948), Ariel (1851), Umbriel (1851), Titania (1787), Oberon (1787), Caliban (1997), Sycorax (1997), Prospero (1999), Setebos (1999), Stephano (1999), and 1986U10 (1999).

The moons that were discovered in 1986 were found by our flying robot explorer, Voyager 2.

Can you guess, just by looking at the discovery dates, which of Uranus's moons are the biggest? (The answer is at the bottom of the page.)

For a long time, we didn't think Uranus had rings. They are made of dark carbon stuff and don't don't reflect light... so, we couldn't see them. They were finally discovered by accident when they blocked the light of a distant star that was passing behind Uranus.

One of the coolest things about Uranus is that it rotates in the opposite direction of most of the other planets! If we look down on the planets from above we see that Uranus rotates clockwise (the way a clock's hand move around the clock) and all the other planets (except Venus and Pluto) and all the moons spin counterclockwise (like if the clock's hands were moving backwards). Check out this picture:

Also, Uranus somehow got knocked on its side! (Look back up at our picture.) Scientists figure that something really big must have run into Uranus to have gotten it this way.

Sun | Mercury | Venus | Earth | Our Moon | Mars | Jupiter | Saturn | Uranus | Neptune | Pluto

Sources:
In Quest of the Universe, 2nd ed. by Karl F. Kuhn
Voyages Through the Universe, 2nd ed. by Fraknoi, Morrison and Wolff
Universe by Kaufmann
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Astronomy by Christopher De Pree and Alan Axelrod
The Astronomy Cafe by Sten Odenwald