Uranus for Kids
Planet 7 from the Sun
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. Its day lasts 17.2 hours. Its year lasts 83.7 Earth years. That is from NASA's planetary fact sheet, checked 29 October 2026. A scale there reads 0.889 times as much as on Earth. Read about it at three levels: Little, Middle and Big, and make your own Space Card.
Uranus is a pale blue-green planet that rolls around the Sun on its side, like a ball rolling along.
Uranus is tipped over so far that it spins on its side, so each pole has about 42 years of sunlight and then 42 years of dark. It is an ice giant, blue-green because of a gas called methane.
Uranus takes 84 Earth years to orbit the Sun and spins backwards, tipped about 98 degrees. William Herschel found it in 1781, the first planet discovered with a telescope. Its moons are named for characters in the stories of Shakespeare and Pope.
One season on Uranus lasts about 21 Earth years.
Uranus in numbers
| Across | 51,118 km |
|---|---|
| From the Sun | 2867 million km |
| A day | 17.2 hours |
| A year | 83.7 Earth years |
| Pull of gravity | 0.889 times Earth's |
| Average temperature | -195 °C |
| Moons | 28 |
Source: NASA planetary fact sheet, checked 29 October 2026.
How big is Uranus?
Uranus is 51,118 kilometers across, 4.0 Earths wide. Uranus is 2.87 billion kilometers from the Sun, on average.
How hot or cold is Uranus?
Uranus averages -195 degrees Celsius, far colder than any freezer on Earth.
Does Uranus have moons?
Uranus has 28 moons by NASA's count, and the number can grow as telescopes find more.
Can I see Uranus tonight?
Not with your eyes. Uranus is just at the edge of what a perfect dark sky shows, and easy only with binoculars and a map. Sky Tonight gives your own times from a ZIP.
How much would I weigh on Uranus?
A child who weighs 80 pounds on Earth would read 71 pounds on Uranus. That is a game number: it only shows how hard Uranus pulls compared with Earth. Make your own Space Card to guess first and see all eleven worlds.