Like the other Gas Giants (Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune), Uranus has rings of ice and small rock particles. However, these rings are so faint, they are only visible for special scientific equipment.

Uranus has 27 moons (so far discovered) orbiting the planet. Ten of these were discovered in 1986 by the Voyager 2 mission.

A day on Uranus is a few hours shorter than a day on Earth - the planet takes 17 hours to spin on its axis. However, a year on Uranus is much longer than a year on Earth. In fact, it takes 84 years on Earth for Uranus to complete one orbit around the Sun!

Uranus was the first planet in the Solar System not to be "discovered". The planets known of at the time of the discovery of Uranus were Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Ancient astronomers were able to see these objects without telescopes or binoculars and named them after their Gods. Uranus was discovered much later using scientific instruments, in 1751, but was still named after an ancient god (in mythology, Uranus was the ruler of the Gods)

Because of Uranus' unique tilt, a night at one of its poles lasts for 21 Earth years, during which it will receive no light or heat at all from the Sun.

Almost all of the moons of Uranus are named after characters in plays written by Shakespeare. The moons of every other planet in the Solar System are named after characters in Greek and Roman mythology. The two moons of Uranus that are not named after Shakespearean characters (Arlel and Umbriel) are named after characters in a book called "The Rape of the Lock" written by Alexander Pope.  

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