Uranus

Uranus
Political Specifications
Designation	Sol VIII
Affiliation	unaligned
Location	Sol
Sector	Sol Sector
Quadrant	Alpha / Beta
World Status	Non-Resource
Orbital Characteristics
Distance (AUs)	19.22
Orbit	8
Orbital Zone	Blue
Orbital Duration	84.02 years (30,688.5 days)
Physical Characteristics
Class	I
Rotation Duration	17.23
Satellites	27
Atmospheric Density	Dense
Gravity (g)	0.92
Diameter (d)	3.98
Surface Area (a2)	15.85
Population Data
Dominant Lifeform	N/A

Astronomical Data

Satellites

Natural

• Miranda
• Ariel
• Umbriel
• Titania
• Oberon
• 22 lesser moons
• slight ring system

Artificial

• none

History

Uranus had been observed on many occasions prior to its discovery as a planet, but it was generally mistaken for a star. The earliest recorded sighting was in 1690 when John Flamsteed catalogued Uranus as 34 Tauri and observed it at least six times. The French astronomer, Pierre Lemonnier, observed Uranus at least twelve times between 1750 and 1769, including on four consecutive nights.

Sir William Herschel observed the planet on 13 March 1781 while in the garden of his house in the town of Bath, Somerset (now the Herschel Museum of Astronomy), but initially reported it (on 26 April 1781) as a "comet". Herschel "engaged in a series of observations on the parallax of the fixed stars", using a telescope of his own design.

He recorded in his journal "In the quartile near ζ Tauri … either [a] Nebulous star or perhaps a comet". On 17 March, he noted, "I looked for the Comet or Nebulous Star and found that it is a Comet, for it has changed its place". When he presented his discovery to the Royal Society, he continued to assert that he had found a comet while also implicitly comparing it to a planet.

Important Locations

• None