Uranus is the period of rotation around its axis. Planet Uranus. Physical characteristics of Uranus, structure of Uranus. Orbit and axis of rotation of Uranus. Ice canyons and terraces of Miranda

Planet Uranus, Interesting Facts the existence of which was first discovered in 1781 by the English scientist W. Herschel, is still being studied today. The astronomer kept under observation for several days a luminous body that had not previously been noticed in the starry firmament. In the course of calculations and reasoning, he finally came to the conclusion: the unidentified object is a new planet. The astronomy community suggested that Herschel name the planet after himself. But he modestly refused and proposed to name his brainchild in honor of King George III of England - George’s Planet. This idea was not accepted by society, and was named Uranus.

It is noteworthy that before the official discovery, scientists repeatedly noted the location of this planet in the galaxy. But they mistook it for a star, then for a comet, or even registered it as a star in the constellation Taurus.

Green star in the Universe

Uranus is the only planet named after the ancient Greek god who personified the heavens (usually Roman mythology was used). Uranus is located in 7th place in the solar system with a distance of 2.9 billion km from the star. Contains large amounts of methane in the clouds, which gives the planet a beautiful blue-green color.

There are 27 satellites hovering in the pitch darkness along with Uranus. All of them were named after the heroes of the works of W. Shakespeare and A. Pope. Among all the satellites, there are two largest:

• Oberon. The circumference of the satellite is 1520 km in diameter. It is located at a distance of about 582.6 thousand km from Uranus. One revolution around its planet takes 13 days, always turning one side towards it. The temperature of the ice giant does not exceed - 200˚С.
• Titania. The diameter of this satellite is 1580 km. It is separated from Uranus by 436 thousand km. It orbits its planet in 9 days. Titania is also cold, like Oberon, and has a temperature of -200 ̊C.
• The most incredible body that rotates in the orbit of Uranus is Miranda. With a diameter of 400 km, it has mountains up to 5 km in height and gorge of the same depth. In the area of ​​the satellite's south pole there is a unique depression 15 km away.

Uranus is the third largest planet. Studies of its characteristics are carried out using the Voyager 2 spacecraft. Studying the parameters allows you to discover interesting facts about the planet Urani and learn a lot of new things about this celestial body:

The ring system of the planet deserves special attention. It has a complex structure consisting of a combination of internal and external groups of rings. In total, Uranus has 13 of them. They are not particularly bright and have a rather gloomy appearance. The rings are believed to be remains former companion Uranus. After destruction during a collision with the planet, particles of debris and dust remained in orbit, taking the form of circles. Given the age of the rings, it can be assumed that the disaster occurred relatively recently.

Research of physical and chemical characteristics, rings and satellites of Uranus is a long process. Astronomers have managed to accumulate a small amount of information about the cosmic body. Despite the fact that the planet Uranus is poorly studied, the information collected about it allows us to discover new things in the structure of the Solar system.

It is the third largest of the four gas giants. It was discovered in 1871 by Frederick William Herschel.
Uranus is surprising in that it is the only planet in the Solar System that has an axis lying in the plane of motion of the planets around the Sun, and rings perpendicular to this plane.
If you imagine this, then Uranus rotates lying on its side.
The planet makes one revolution every 84 Earth years. The change of seasons occurs only in a small area near the poles. So for 42 years it’s summer at one pole, after 42 years it’s summer at the other pole, and at the opposite pole it’s winter, respectively.

The cold zone, the side of the planet that faces away from the sun has a temperature of -271 °C to -268 °C (2 to 5 K), while the temperature on the side of the planet facing the sun has a temperature of -213 ° WITH.
This is officially accepted data. But on the other hand, the planet is a gas giant, and it simply does not have any clearly defined surface.
First there is gas, then closer to the center of the planet there is liquid or liquefied gas under the influence of pressure, and perhaps even closer to the center there is solid rock, but which exists and was formed only due to the colossal pressure on it.
The planet's atmosphere consists of hydrogen and helium, with traces of methane and other hydrocarbons.
Uranus orbits the Sun at a distance of 2,871 million km. Rotation around its axis takes about 17 hours, which is less than rotation and.
The planet's mass is fifteen masses and its density is 1.2 g/cm3.
The planet's radius is approximately 26,200 km.
The planet has a blue color - this color is given to the planet by the methane contained in its atmosphere.

In the interior of Uranus, three zones are distinguished: a hot core with a radius of 7500 km, consisting of iron and silicates. Shell-mantle 10,000 km of ice, water, methane and ammonia.
The surface layer consists of helium, hydrogen and methane.
Uranus, unlike Jupiter and Saturn, does not have an internal intense source of thermal radiation.

Since 1977, nine rings around Uranus have been discovered. The Voyager probe confirmed their existence, and discovered two more. These eleven rings are located between 41,800 and 51,200 km from the planet.

Uranus has 15 natural satellites(according to some sources - 17).

Planet Uranus is the seventh planet of our solar system; it was discovered not so long ago and has been studied very little. People saw this planet even before William Herschel discovered it. But they took her for a star. That is why the planet Uranus still remains a huge mystery for earthlings. Huge Uranus is also called because it is the third largest planet in the system, its diameter at the equator is four times that of the Earth, and its mass is 14 times heavier. But at the same time, it is the lightest of the giant planets, since it mainly consists of ice - ammonia, methane and water. From Earth, Uranus appears blue because its atmosphere contains a large amount of methane. According to the classification, it is a gaseous planet - a giant.

Unlike other planets, it rotates “lying on its side”, since Uranus’ axis is inclined more than 98°.

History of discovery

The first mention of the planet was written by the English scientist John Flamsteed. During 1690, he observed this celestial body several times, but recorded it only as a star of the 34th constellation Taurus. Already in the 18th century, the French astronomer Le Monier observed the planet for almost 20 years, still considering it a star.

William Herschel initially considered Uranus to be a comet. In 1781, he made observations of the constellation Taurus and noticed: where, according to all astronomical maps of that time, there should be emptiness, there is a celestial body. The object moved slowly relative to neighboring stars and was quite clearly visible.

Uranus is the first planet discovered using a telescope. A model of this telescope is in the Bath Museum in the UK.

Studying the open celestial body with different lenses, Herschel came to the conclusion that it was not a star, since its size changed as it approached. But he found neither a tail nor a head, which is typical of comets. But while the comets remained clear in the telescope lens, the new object became blurry. At the same time, the scientist was able to clarify the orbit of movement, ellipsoidal and very elongated.

At the same time, Russian astronomer A. I. Leksel determined the distance from the Earth to the object. It exceeded 18 times the distance from the Sun to the Earth. No comet was known at that distance at that time. The German scientist Bode recommended that the object be considered more like a planet. This was finally confirmed in 1783 by Herschel himself. This discovery earned him a lifetime scholarship of £200,000 and an invitation to move to Windsor Palace. The King of England wanted to personally look at the stars through the scientist’s telescopes.

The question arose about the name of the new planet. Herschel, using the right of a discoverer, proposed calling it George's planet, in honor of the English king, during whose reign the planet was discovered. His fellow astronomers suggested other names: Cybele, Herschel. Then they remembered that the new planet revolves behind Saturn. According to Greek mythology, the father of the god Saturn was Uranus, the god of the sky. This name stuck, although in England for almost 70 years the planet was called George. The name Uranus was finally officially adopted in 1860 by the World Astronomical Society.

Uranus is the only planet in our system whose name has roots in Greek rather than Roman mythology.

Characteristics of the planet

Uranium has the following characteristics:

• Weight - 8.69×1025 kg
• Uranium is the second lowest density
• Equator diameter - 51118 km
• Diameter at the pole - 49946 km
• Uranus rotates in orbit at a speed of 6.8 km/sec
• Gravity acceleration about 9 m/sec 2
• The orbit is inclined to the ecliptic i=0.773°
• There are 27 satellites
• Rings detected

Movement

First of all, the planet is notable for its unusual movement around the Sun. Scientists call it “retrograde.” All other planets rotate in orbit like a top, due to which the change of day and night occurs. And Uranus rolls like a bowling ball, so the seasons and day and night change completely differently on it. The time of day (in the understanding of earthlings) changes there only at the equator. The sun there is located very low, as in the Earth's subpolar latitudes. This happens once every 17 hours 50 minutes Earth time.

At the poles of Uranus, the change of day and night occurs once every 42 years. Scientists have suggested that such a tilt of the axis and the corresponding change in times was a consequence of a collision with space objects billions of years ago, even during the emergence of Uranus.

A year on Uranus lasts 84.5 Earth years. In the polar regions it is colder than at the equator, although there is more light from the Sun there. Scientists cannot yet explain this.

Atmosphere and structure

Conclusions about the structure of the planet and its atmosphere were made by scientists based on spectrographic observations and photographs from probes. It is known for sure that there is no metallic hydrogen in the depths of Uranus. They consist of rocks and ice methane, ammonia. The basis of the atmosphere is helium and hydrogen. The planet is enveloped in several layers of clouds consisting of various gases, molecular hydrogen and ice.

Uranus has the coldest atmosphere of all the planets in the solar system (-224°C). This “merit” lies in the distance from the Sun and the almost complete absence of internal heat. Moreover, this is the most restless atmosphere in the entire solar system.

The planet's surface has three layers: a rocky core, a mantle of ice and a gaseous shell of helium and hydrogen. Almost 3% is methane, which gives the planet its blue color. Hydrogen oxide and dioxide were found in the upper layers.

This is only a hypothetical model. There are at least three more, one of which does not recognize hard rock on Uranus at all. Until now, scientists have not been able to give an unambiguous picture of the structure of the seventh planet. Much depends on the exact percentage composition, geophysics and geology of the planet. Such studies are planned only in the 20s or 30s of our century. It is expected that for the first time chemical samples will be obtained directly from all layers of the atmosphere.

Satellites

The planet has many satellites. Although some of them were once captured by the gravity of Uranus and disintegrated. The largest satellite is Titania, slightly smaller than Oberon. Both were discovered by Herschel. They are followed by Umbriel, Ariel and Miranda. Of these, only Miranda consists entirely of ice, the rest are a mixture of ice and rocks. Some of the satellites move inside the planet’s rings, which is why they are called internal.

All the satellites of Uranus were named in honor of the heroes of the works of William Shakespeare. This is also a tribute to the discoverer from England.

Rings

They may not be as bright as those of Saturn, but they also exist around Uranus. Such rings are typical for gas planets. They are dark and dull, made up of tiny dark particles no larger than a meter in size. But these rings were discovered second, after similar rings of Saturn.

Herschel also claimed that he saw them, but since the telescopes of that time were weak, they did not believe him. American astronomers confirmed his correctness already in the eighties of the twentieth century. They saw these rings with the help of an onboard observatory, and quite by accident - according to the plan, they were supposed to monitor the atmosphere of Uranus. To date, 13 rings have been confirmed. They are much younger than the planet, formed after its origin; according to assumptions, these are the remains of captured satellites. The brightest is the epsilon ring. It can be seen from Earth in an amateur telescope.

Research

After the discovery of Uranus, its study remained problematic for a long time due to its enormous remoteness. Scientists could only observe the largest satellites and speculate about rings or atmospheres.

Only in the twentieth century was the Voyager 2 probe launched, which, launched in 1977, reached the planet in 1986. He transmitted the first photographs - an inexpressive, dull surface, barely visible through the clouds. The mission of Voyager 2 was to study the magnetic field of Uranus and monitor the atmosphere. The device also studied the weather, discovered two previously unknown rings and took pictures of the largest satellites. Part of the planet remained out of sight of scientists as the probe approached the part of the planet illuminated by the Sun.

More useful information was provided by observations using the Hubble radio telescope already in the nineties. It was he who first recorded the atmospheric vortices of Uranus, discovered a “dark spot” in the clouds and asymmetry in the structure of the planet.

These discoveries allowed a group of 168 scientists to begin preparations for a new project. NASA is currently preparing to launch the Uranus Pathfinder. The probe will begin its journey on Earth and end in the region of Uranus, where it will pass through the atmosphere and take many samples. The project involves a large-scale study outside Solar system. The gigantic regions beyond Uranus will be visually examined. It is assumed that the device will launch in the 20s. The mission could last up to 15 years, of which almost 10 will be spent flying to the blue planet.

• Uranium is 80% composed of various liquids. There is also water, in the form of super-frozen ice.
• This planet can be seen even with the naked eye from Earth; you just need to know its coordinates exactly and be away from the city.
• The magnetic field of Uranus' northern hemisphere is ten times stronger than that of the southern hemisphere.
• Storms on the surface of the planet cover vast areas comparable to the size of continents on Earth.
• This is the only planet in the system that emits less heat than is given to it by the Sun. This phenomenon has not yet found a clear explanation.
• The size of the largest satellite, Titania, is half the diameter of the Moon.
• Uranus is a pair with Venus, the two of them rotate differently than the other planets - from east to west relative to their axis.
• The light of the Sun reaches the surface of Uranus only after three hours.
• This is the least studied planet in our system.
• Uranium regularly finds its way into various cultural works. Already three years after its opening, the effect of satirical pamphlets was transferred to it. It was included in novels by leading science fiction writers. It is on Uranus that the plot of the film “Journey to the Seventh Planet” develops, where the heroes of the TV series “Space Patrol” and “Doctor Who” find themselves. Mysterious Uranus gives complete freedom to fantastic comics, vibrant anime and popular computer games.

Uranus is the seventh planet in the solar system and the third gas giant. The planet is the third largest and fourth largest in mass, and received its name in honor of the father of the Roman god Saturn.

Exactly Uranus had the honor of being the first planet discovered in modern history. However, in reality, his initial discovery of it as a planet did not actually happen. In 1781, the astronomer William Herschel while observing stars in the constellation Gemini, he noticed a certain disk-shaped object, which he initially recorded as a comet, which he reported to the Royal Scientific Society of England. However, later Herschel himself was puzzled by the fact that the object’s orbit turned out to be practically circular, and not elliptical, as is the case with comets. It was only when this observation was confirmed by other astronomers that Herschel came to the conclusion that he had actually discovered a planet, not a comet, and the discovery was finally widely accepted.

After confirming the data that the discovered object was a planet, Herschel received the extraordinary privilege of giving it his name. Without hesitation, the astronomer chose the name of King George III of England and named the planet Georgium Sidus, which translated means “George’s Star.” However, the name never received scientific recognition and scientists, for the most part, came to the conclusion that it is better to adhere to a certain tradition in naming the planets of the solar system, namely to name them in honor of the ancient Roman gods. This is how Uranus got its modern name.

Currently, the only planetary mission that has managed to collect information about Uranus is Voyager 2.

This meeting, which took place in 1986, allowed scientists to obtain a fairly large amount of data about the planet and make many discoveries. Spaceship transmitted thousands of photographs of Uranus, its moons and rings. Although many photographs of the planet showed little more than the blue-green color that could be seen from ground-based telescopes, other images showed the presence of ten previously unknown moons and two new rings. No new missions to Uranus are planned for the near future.

Due to the dark blue color of Uranus, it turned out to be much more difficult to create an atmospheric model of the planet than models of the same or even . Fortunately, images from the Hubble Space Telescope have provided a broader picture. More modern technologies The telescope's visualizations made it possible to obtain much more detailed images than those of Voyager 2. Thus, thanks to Hubble photographs, it was possible to find out that there are latitudinal bands on Uranus, just like on other gas giants. In addition, wind speeds on the planet can reach more than 576 km/hour.

It is believed that the reason for the appearance of a monotonous atmosphere is the composition of its uppermost layer. The visible layers of clouds are composed primarily of methane, which absorbs these observed wavelengths corresponding to the color red. Thus, the reflected waves are represented as blue and green colors.

Beneath this outer layer of methane, the atmosphere consists of approximately 83% hydrogen (H2) and 15% helium, with some methane and acetylene present. This composition is similar to other gas giants in the Solar System. However, Uranus's atmosphere is strikingly different in another way. While the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn are mostly gaseous, the atmosphere of Uranus contains much more ice. Evidence of this is the extremely low temperatures on the surface. Considering the fact that the temperature of the atmosphere of Uranus reaches -224 ° C, it can be called the coldest atmosphere in the solar system. In addition, available data indicate that such extremely low temperatures are present around almost the entire surface of Uranus, even on the side that is not illuminated by the Sun.

Uranus, according to planetary scientists, consists of two layers: the core and the mantle. Modern models suggest that the core is mainly composed of rock and ice and is approximately 55 times the mass of . The planet's mantle weighs 8.01 x 10 to the power of 24 kg, or about 13.4 Earth masses. In addition, the mantle consists of water, ammonia and other volatile elements. The main difference between the mantle of Uranus and Jupiter and Saturn is that it is icy, albeit not in the traditional sense of the word. The fact is that the ice is very hot and thick, and the thickness of the mantle is 5.111 km.

What is most surprising about the composition of Uranus, and what distinguishes it from the other gas giants of our star system, is that it does not radiate more energy than it receives from the Sun. Given the fact that even , which is very close in size to Uranus, produces about 2.6 times more heat than it receives from the Sun, scientists today are very intrigued by such a weak power generated by Uranus. On this moment There are two explanations for this phenomenon. The first indicates that Uranus was exposed to a massive space object in the past, causing the planet to lose much of its internal heat (gained during formation) into space. The second theory states that there is some kind of barrier inside the planet that does not allow the internal heat of the planet to escape to the surface.

Orbit and rotation of Uranus

The very discovery of Uranus allowed scientists to almost double the radius of the known Solar System. This means that on average the orbit of Uranus is about 2.87 x 10 to the power of 9 km. The reason for such a huge distance is the duration of passage of solar radiation from the Sun to the planet. Sunlight takes about two hours and forty minutes to reach Uranus, which is almost twenty times longer than it takes sunlight in order to reach Earth. The enormous distance also affects the length of the year on Uranus; it lasts almost 84 Earth years.

The orbital eccentricity of Uranus is 0.0473, which is only slightly less than that of Jupiter - 0.0484. This factor makes Uranus the fourth of all the planets in the Solar System in terms of circular orbit. The reason for such a small eccentricity of Uranus's orbit is that the difference between its perihelion of 2.74 x 10 to the power of 9 km and its aphelion of 3.01 x 109 km is only 2.71 x 10 to the power of 8 km.

The most interesting point about the rotation of Uranus is the position of the axis. The fact is that the axis of rotation for every planet except Uranus is approximately perpendicular to their orbital plane, but Uranus' axis is tilted almost 98°, which effectively means that Uranus rotates on its side. The result of this position of the planet's axis is that the north pole of Uranus is on the Sun for half of the planetary year, and the other half is on the south pole of the planet. In other words, daytime on one hemisphere of Uranus lasts 42 earth years, and the night life on the other hemisphere is the same. Scientists again cite a collision with a huge planet as the reason why Uranus “turned on its side.” cosmic body.

Considering the fact that the most popular of the rings in our solar system for a long time remained the rings of Saturn, the rings of Uranus could not be discovered until 1977. However, this is not the only reason; there are two more reasons for such a late detection: the distance of the planet from the Earth and the low reflectivity of the rings themselves. In 1986, the Voyager 2 spacecraft was able to determine the presence of two more rings on the planet, in addition to those known at that time. In 2005, the Hubble Space Telescope spotted two more. Today, planetary scientists know of 13 rings of Uranus, the brightest of which is the Epsilon ring.

The rings of Uranus differ from Saturn's in almost every way - from particle size to composition. First, the particles that make up the rings of Saturn are small, little more than a few meters in diameter, while the rings of Uranus contain many bodies up to twenty meters in diameter. Second, the particles in Saturn's rings are mostly made of ice. The rings of Uranus, however, are composed of both ice and significant dust and debris.

William Herschel only discovered Uranus in 1781 because the planet was too dim to be seen by ancient civilizations. Herschel himself initially believed that Uranus was a comet, but later revised his opinion and science confirmed the planetary status of the object. Thus, Uranus became the first planet discovered in modern history. The original name proposed by Herschel was "George's Star" - in honor of King George III, but the scientific community did not accept it. The name "Uranus" was proposed by astronomer Johann Bode, in honor of the ancient Roman god Uranus.
Uranus rotates on its axis once every 17 hours and 14 minutes. Like , the planet rotates in a retrograde direction, opposite to the direction of the Earth and the other six planets.
It is believed that the unusual tilt of Uranus's axis could cause a huge collision with another cosmic body. The theory is that a planet supposedly the size of Earth collided sharply with Uranus, which shifted its axis by almost 90 degrees.
Wind speeds on Uranus can reach up to 900 km per hour.
Uranus has a mass of about 14.5 times the mass of Earth, making it the lightest of the four gas giants of our solar system.
Uranus is often referred to as the "ice giant". In addition to hydrogen and helium in its upper layer (like other gas giants), Uranus also has an icy mantle that surrounds its iron core. The upper atmosphere consists of ammonia and icy methane crystals, which gives Uranus its characteristic pale blue color.
Uranus is the second least dense planet in the solar system, after Saturn.

The discovery of Uranus was important event, and happened in 1781. This was done by William Herschel, an English astronomer. And this happened thanks to his diligence, observation and determination.

William Herschel - astronomer and discoverer of the planet Uranus.

William Herschel is one of the most famous people in astronomy. He is responsible for several discoveries, including the satellites of Uranus, Titania and Oberon. However, the fate of this man was very difficult, because initially he was a musician in a military orchestra and he wrote 24 symphonies! He was born in Germany in 1738, and moved to England in 1775, while serving in the army with his regiment, from where he left for the sake of music.

Herschel's path to astronomy was winding. At first he became interested in the mathematical theory of music, and mathematics led him to optics, and here he became interested in astronomy. And since he was poor and could not afford to buy a ready-made telescope, in 1773 he began polishing mirrors and constructing telescopes for himself and for sale. His first telescope was with a focal length of 7 feet (about 2 meters), with which he immediately began studying the sky.

Herschel's main rule when making observations was simple - not to leave a single, even tiny piece of the sky unstudied. The plan, of course, is grandiose, and no one has done this before. He was helped by his sister, Caroline Herschel, who also left her mark on the history of astronomy thanks to her dedicated work with her brother.

Discovery of Uranus

After 7 years of persistent observation of the vast sky, on March 13, 1781, William pointed his 7-foot telescope to the area between the constellations of Gemini and Taurus. And he was very surprised when one of the stars next to ζ Tauri appeared before him not as a bright point, but turned into a disk. Herschel immediately realized that he was not seeing a star at all, since stars at any magnification look like dots, only their brightness changes.

Herschel's 7-foot telescope, which was used to discover Uranus

William tried to observe the strange object with different eyepieces, that is, changing the magnification of the telescope to more and more. The greater the magnification became, the larger the disk of the unknown object became, although the neighboring stars looked the same.

Puzzled by what he saw, William continued his observations and discovered that the unknown celestial body had its own motion relative to other stars. Therefore, he decided that he had discovered a comet, although it was strange that it did not have a tail, and on March 17 he wrote about it in his journal.

In a letter to the Royal Society, Herschel wrote:

The first time I observed this comet was with a magnification of 227 times. My experience is that the diameter of stars, unlike planets, does not change proportionally when using lenses of higher magnification power; Therefore, I used 460 and 932 magnification lenses and found that the size of the comet increased in proportion to the change in the power of optical magnification, suggesting that it was not a star, since the sizes of the stars taken for comparison did not change. Moreover, at higher magnifications than its brightness allowed, the comet became blurry, difficult to distinguish, while the stars remained bright and clear - as I knew based on thousands of observations I had made. Repeated observation confirmed my assumptions: it really was a comet.

As soon as the strange comet became known among astronomers, it attracted close attention. Already in April, Astronomer Royal Neville Maskelyne suggested that this object could be either a comet or a previously unknown planet. What followed was routine work - observations, orbit calculations. And in 1783, Herschel recognized the fact that the strange object he discovered was a planet and named it George in honor of the king. On January 11, 1787, on the same day, he also discovered a pair of satellites of Uranus - Titania and Oberon. For the next 50 years, no one could see them - there was not enough telescope power. Currently, Uranus has 27 known moons. However, the discovery of Uranus was one of the largest in the life of this scientist.

The further fate of William Herschel

For his services, King George III awarded William Herschel a lifelong scholarship of 200 pounds, which was considerable money at that time. Since 1782, he began to work closely on improving the design of telescopes and in 1789 built the largest telescope in the world - with a mirror diameter of 126 cm and a focal length of 12 meters.

The largest telescope built by William Herschel.

During his life, Herschel made many discoveries. For example, it was previously thought that double stars in fact, they are simply located in the sky in such a way that they seem close. Herschel proved that some of them are star systems. He was the first to conclude that our galaxy Milky Way is actually a flat stellar disk, and solar system is inside it. He is responsible for many other discoveries, but that’s a completely different story.

It is worth noting that, in fact, William Herschel was an amateur astronomer who devoted a considerable part of his life to this science. Craters on the Moon, Mars, and Mimas, as well as some projects, are named in his honor.

Photo of Uranus. The rings are visible.

As for Uranus, little was known about it for a long time. This planet does not appear to be anything remarkable in appearance - no details are even noticeable on it, just a blue disk. However, in 1977, its rings were discovered (back in 1789, Herschel claimed to have seen the ring of Uranus, but they did not believe him), and then space research provided a lot of new data. And it turned out that Uranus is a rather extraordinary world that can surprise its researchers. But this is a topic for a separate article.