Uranus

Uranus is one of the Solar System's two ice giants and appears blue-green because methane in its atmosphere absorbs red wavelengths of light.

Its most striking characteristic is its extreme axial tilt. Compared with most planets, Uranus is turned dramatically onto its side.

Uranus has an axial tilt of roughly 98 degrees, meaning its rotational axis lies almost in the plane of its orbit.

As Uranus travels around the Sun, this orientation creates unusual seasonal lighting patterns unlike those experienced on Earth.

Uranus requires about 84 Earth years to complete one orbit around the Sun.

Its long orbital period demonstrates how dramatically planetary motion slows as orbital distance increases across the outer Solar System.

Voyager 2 flew past Uranus in 1986 and remains the only spacecraft to have visited the planet at close range.

The flyby revealed new information about Uranus, its rings, magnetic environment, and moons, but much of the planet remains unexplored.

TransitSatellite can use Uranus to show that planetary motion involves more than simply following an orbit.

Rotation, axial tilt, seasons, moons, rings, and visibility from Earth all add layers to the way a planetary system behaves.