GROUP IIIPRESENTS

Uranus

Uranus is the ancient Greek God of the Heavens - the earliest supreme god. He was the father of Cronus (also known as Saturn in Roman mythology) and of the Cyclopes and Titans (predecessors of the Olympian gods).

Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun and the third largest of the nine planets (in size). Uranus is larger in size but smaller in weight than Neptune.

Like the other gas planets, Uranus has bands of clouds that blow around rapidly. Uranus' bands are very, very faint. They can only be seen with special treatment of pictures obtained by the Voyager 2 spacecraft. Here are examples of what Uranus looks like before and after image enhancement. 

Like the other gas planets, Uranus has rings. Uranus' rings are very dark like Jupiter’s rings. The rings are made up of fairly large particles ranging up to 10 meters across in addition to fine dust - much like the rings of Saturn. There are 11 known rings, all are very faint. Uranus' brightest ring is known as the "Epsilon" ring.

Planet notes♥ Uranus is a giant gas planet which is made up of mostly rock and various ices.

♥ Uranus has been visited by only one spacecraft, Voyager 2 on Jan 24 1986.

♥Uranus spins differently from most planets. It seems to be tilted "sideways" instead of right-side up. At the time of Voyager 2's passage, Uranus' south pole was pointed almost directly at the Sun.

♥ Uranus has 15 known moons. Voyager 2 discovered 10 small moons in addition to the 5 large ones already known. It is likely that there are many more tiny moons within the rings.

Neptune

In Roman mythology Neptune was the god of the Sea. He is known as Poseidon in Greek mythology. The planet was probably named after the sea gods because of its deep blue color.

Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the fourth largest (by size) of the nine planets. Neptune is smaller in size but it's heavier than Uranus.

Neptune's blue color is the result of a gas called "methane" in its atmosphere. Like the other gas planets, Neptune has rapid winds trapped in "bands" of latitude and large storms. Neptune's winds are the fastest in the solar system, reaching 2000 km/hour!

At the time of Voyager's flyby, Neptune's most outstanding feature was the "Great Dark Spot" in the southern hemisphere. It was about half the size as Jupiter's "Great Red Spot" - about 1 Earth would fit into it. Neptune's winds blew the Great Dark Spot westward at 300 meters/second (700 mph)!

Voyager 2 also saw a smaller dark spot in the southern hemisphere and a small irregular white cloud that zipped around Neptune every 16 hours or so now. This feature is known as "The Scooter."

News:Recently, however, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) showed that the Great Dark Spot has disappeared! Scientists think that it has either dissipated (like our storms do) or is currently being hidden by Neptune's atmosphere. Also, HST discovered a new dark spot in Neptune's northern hemisphere. This shows that Neptune's atmosphere changes rapidly.

Neptune also has rings. The Voyager 2 spacecraft showed scientists that Neptune indeed has complete rings with bright clumps. Like Uranus and Jupiter, Neptune's rings are very dark and very faint. Scientists still haven't figured out what they are made of yet.

Planet notes

♥ Neptune is a giant gas planet which is most likely made up of various "ice" and rock

♥ Neptune has been visited by only one spacecraft, Voyager 2 on Aug 25 1989. Almost everything we know about Neptune comes from this one visit.

♥ Depending on how far along Pluto is in its orbit (path around the Sun), Neptune can be either the eighth or ninth planet. Pluto's orbit is kind of wacky, and it sometimes crosses in front of Neptune. When Pluto does this, Neptune is behind Pluto - hence, it is the ninth planet for a short time.

~ Neptune has 8 known moons; 7 small ones and a large moon called "Triton."

Thank you for

watching!