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The seventh planet from the Sun is so distant that it takes 84 years to com-plete one orbit. Like Venus, Uranus rotates east to west. Uranus’ rotation axis is tilted almost parallel to its orbital plane, so Uranus appears to be rotating on its side.
Rotation The atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune are typically associated with strong zonal winds with velocities up to 200 m s−1 and 400 m s−1 , respectively. Uranus and Neptune wind velocities are the strongest observed in the solar system; the energy source to drive such energetic atmospheric winds is unknown.
The approaches examined are: (1) using theoretical interior models together with observations of the oblateness and the gravitational moment; (2) studying periodic fluctuations in the brightness; and (3) spectrographically measuring the Doppler shifts (line tilts).
2 sie 1998 · Based on the previous Voyager observations, Uranus spins on its axis at a faster rate than Earth does, completing one rotation every 7 hours, 14 minutes. One of the four gas giant planets of our solar system, Uranus is largely featureless.
One day on Uranus takes about 17 hours. This is the amount of time it takes Uranus to rotate, or spin once around its axis. Uranus makes a complete orbit around the Sun (a year in Uranian time) in about 84 Earth years (30,687 Earth days).
Uranus has an unusual, irregularly shaped magnetosphere. Magnetic fields are typically in alignment with a planet's rotation, but Uranus' magnetic field is tipped over: the magnetic axis is tilted nearly 60 degrees from the planet's axis of rotation, and is also offset from the center of the planet by one-third of the planet's radius.
Uranus’ axis is so tilted, it actually looks like the planet is rotating on its side. How did this all happen? One theory is that a body the size of our Earth collided with Uranus a long time ago, radically throwing off its rotation.
