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Solar
Planet

Uranus

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Where is it now

Distance from Sun
19.435 AU
True anomaly
251.66°
Distance from Earth
18.852 AU
As of
2 October 2026

Two-body Kepler propagation — accurate to ~0.1% for major planets over decades, less so for highly-perturbed bodies. Use JPL Horizons for high precision.

Sun Earth — 1.001 AU from the Sun Earth Uranus — 19.435 AU from the Sun Uranus
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Uranus is 18.852 AU from Earth today (2.6 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
04h 12m 45s
Declination
+20° 59′ 40″
Constellation
Taurus
Distance from Earth
18.84 AU
Elongation from the Sun
125.15° — well clear of the Sun

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

From your location

See how high it is right now, whether it's up after dark, and when it rises and sets where you are.

How do I find my coordinates?

Google Maps on a computer

  1. Right-click the spot where you'll be observing.
  2. The first line of the menu is the coordinates, e.g. 51.50722, -0.12758 — click it and they're copied.
  3. Paste them above.

Google Maps on a phone

  1. Press and hold the spot to drop a pin.
  2. The coordinates appear in the search bar (or on the pin's card) — tap to copy, then paste above.

A full Google Maps link works too, but the short maps.app.goo.gl share links don't carry coordinates — copy the numbers instead. We round to about a kilometre; that's all the sky calculation needs.

Know your what3words address? Paste it, e.g. ///filled.count.soap. This is optional — the three words are sent to what3words to convert them, and we don't store the address or the result.

Your location stays in your browser and is sent only for this calculation. Using a what3words address is optional; if you do, the three words go to what3words to be converted and we don't record them. Set a location first, then you can save an email alert for this object. See our privacy policy.

Two-body approximation, good to about a degree for the planets — enough to find the constellation and know whether it is up.

Orbital elements

Semi-major axis
19.189 AU
Eccentricity
0.0473
Inclination
0.77°
Orbital period
84.02 years
Perihelion
18.286 AU
Aphelion
20.097 AU
Longitude of ascending node
74.02°
Argument of periapsis
97°
Epoch · J2000
J2000

Physical properties

Mean radius
25,362 km
Equatorial radius
25,559 km
Polar radius
24,973 km
Mass
8.681 × 10²⁵ kg
Density
1.27 g/cm³
Rotation period
-17.24 hours
Axial tilt
97.77°
Surface gravity
9.01 m/s²
Escape velocity
21.3 km/s
GM
5,794,000 km³/s²
Ellipticity
0.02293
J₂ · × 10⁻⁶
3,343.43
Moment of inertia · I/MR²
0.225
Length of day
17.24 hours
Synodic period
369.7 days
Mean orbital speed
6.79 km/s
Black-body temperature
58.1 K
Solar irradiance
3.7 W/m²

Visual & observation

Geometric albedo
0.488
Bond albedo
0.3
V(1,0) magnitude
-7.11
Representative colour
#A9D7E3

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
William Herschel
Discovery date
13 March 1781

Atmosphere

Surface pressure · >>1000 bars
1,000 bar
Temperature · 76 K (-197 C)
76 K
Density
0.42 kg/m³
Scale height
27.7 km
Mean molecular weight
2.64
Winds
0-250 m/s

Composition by volume

  • Molecular hydrogen (H2) 82.5 %
  • Helium (He) 15.2 %
  • Methane (CH4) 2.3 %
  • Hydrogen Deuteride (HD) 148 ppm

Source: NASA Planetary Fact Sheet.

Ring system

Ring Inner radius Outer radius Width
Zeta Ring 32,000 km 39,600 km 7,600 km
6 Ring 41,837 km 41,837 km 0.00 km
5 Ring 42,234 km 42,234 km 0.00 km
4 Ring 42,570 km 42,570 km 0.00 km
Alpha Ring 44,718 km 44,718 km 0.00 km
Beta Ring 45,661 km 45,661 km 0.00 km
Eta Ring 47,175 km 47,175 km 0.00 km
Gamma Ring 47,627 km 47,627 km 0.00 km
Delta Ring 48,300 km 48,300 km 0.00 km
Lambda Ring 50,023 km 50,023 km 0.00 km
Epsilon Ring 51,149 km 51,149 km 0.00 km
Nu Ring 66,100 km 69,900 km 3,800 km
Mu Ring 86,000 km 103,000 km 17,000 km

29 moons

Cordelia — — — 0.0003 AU 8 hours
Ophelia — — — 0.0004 AU 9 hours
S/2025 U 1 — — — 0.0004 AU 10.1 hours
Bianca — — — 0.0004 AU 10.4 hours
Cressida — — — 0.0004 AU 11.1 hours
Desdemona — — — 0.0004 AU 11.4 hours
Juliet — — — 0.0004 AU 11.8 hours
Portia — — — 0.0004 AU 12.3 hours
Rosalind — — — 0.0005 AU 13.4 hours
Cupid — — — 0.0005 AU 14.7 hours
Belinda — — — 0.0005 AU 15 hours
Perdita — — — 0.0005 AU 15.3 hours
Puck — — — 0.0006 AU 18.3 hours
Mab — — — 0.0007 AU 22.1 hours
Miranda 236 km 6.4 × 10¹⁹ kg 1.18 g/cm³ 0.0009 AU 33.9 hours
Ariel 579 km 1.251 × 10²¹ kg 1.54 g/cm³ 0.0013 AU 2.5 days
Umbriel 585 km 1.275 × 10²¹ kg 1.52 g/cm³ 0.0018 AU 4.1 days
Titania 788 km 3.4 × 10²¹ kg 1.65 g/cm³ 0.0029 AU 8.7 days
Oberon 761 km 3.076 × 10²¹ kg 1.66 g/cm³ 0.0039 AU 13.5 days
Francisco — — — 0.0286 AU 267 days
Caliban — — — 0.0479 AU 580 days
Stephano — — — 0.0532 AU 677 days
S/2023 U 1 — — — 0.0533 AU 681 days
Trinculo — — — 0.0568 AU 749 days
Sycorax — — — 0.0815 AU 3.52 years
Margaret — — — 0.0964 AU 4.53 years
Prospero — — — 0.1084 AU 5.4 years
Setebos — — — 0.1171 AU 6.06 years
Ferdinand — — — 0.1365 AU 7.63 years

Sources