SpaceAbout Uranus
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun, an ice giant and a very cold and windy world. It rotates at nearly 90 degrees to the plane of its orbit, so it appears to spin on its side, like a rolling ball. It was the first planet found with a telescope, discovered in 1781 by the astronomer William Herschel.
Source: NASA, read on 12 November 2026.
Uranus compared with Earth
Size. Uranus is 51,118 km across. That is 4 times the width of Earth (12,756 km). About 4 Earths would fit side by side across it. Its mass is 14.5 times Earth's.
Gravity and your weight. Gravity at its cloud tops is 8.7 m/s², against 9.8 on Earth. So things weigh 89% of what they do on Earth. Someone who weighs 50 kg on Earth would feel like 44.4 kg there. The giant planets have no solid surface to stand on, so the figure is for the level in the atmosphere where the pressure is 1 bar. Try your own weight in the weight calculator.
Day. Uranus turns once on its axis in 17.2 hours, and it turns backwards compared with Earth, which the fact sheet shows with a minus sign. From one noon to the next, its day lasts 17.2 hours.
Year. One trip round the Sun takes 30,589 Earth days, which is 83.76 Earth years. A ten-year-old on Earth would be 0.1 years old there, counting in that world's years. See the age calculator.
Distance. Uranus is on average 2,867 million km from the Sun, between 2,732.7 million km at its closest and 3,001.4 million km at its farthest. Sunlight takes 2.7 hours to arrive. That is 19.16 times Earth's distance.
Tilt and temperature. Its axis is tilted by 97.8°. It lies nearly on its side. The mean temperature in the fact sheet is −195 °C.
Moons, rings and magnetism. The fact sheet counts 28 moons for Uranus. Rings: yes. A global magnetic field: yes.
All the figures
| Diameter | 51,118 km |
|---|---|
| Mass | 86.8 × 10²⁴ kg |
| Density | 1,270 kg/m³ |
| Gravity | 8.7 m/s² |
| Escape velocity | 21.3 km/s |
| Rotation period | −17.2 hours |
| Length of day | 17.2 hours |
| Distance from the Sun | 2,867 million km |
| Closest | 2,732.7 million km |
| Farthest | 3,001.4 million km |
| Orbital period | 30,589 days |
| Orbital velocity | 6.8 km/s |
| Orbital inclination | 0.8° |
| Orbital eccentricity | 0.047 |
| Tilt of axis | 97.8° |
| Mean temperature | −195 °C |
| Surface pressure | Unknown |
| Moons | 28 |
| Rings | Yes |
| Global magnetic field | Yes |
Figures: NASA NSSDCA Planetary Fact Sheet, last updated by NASA on 18 March 2025, read on 12 November 2026. NASA rounds these values. Counts of moons change as new ones are confirmed.
Common questions
How big is Uranus compared with Earth?
Uranus is 51,118 km across, 4.01 times the diameter of Earth.
How long is a day on Uranus?
From noon to noon, a day on Uranus lasts 17.2 hours.
How many moons does Uranus have?
The NASA fact sheet read on 12 November 2026 gives 28.