I see ice on Uranus!
This is Uranus [YOOR-un-nus], the seventh planet from the Sun. This is how it looks through a regular telescope that sees visible light like your eyes see. Uranus is a gas giant planet. There is a little water in its atmosphere, but it is mostly hydrogen, helium, and methane. Most of the material making up Uranus is in its core, which is made mostly of 'icy' materials (water, methane, and ammonia). This image is from the Hubble Space Telescope. |
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This image of Uranus, its ring, and some of its moons, was taken by a special camera on the Hubble Space Telescope. Compared to the other planets in our solar system, Uranus is lying on its side, probably because a very large object smashed into it some time in its past. This camera senses infrared light, which our eyes cannot see. |
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This artificially colored image of Uranus taken by the Keck Telescope shows features of its atmosphere and rings. |