As we move outwards from the Asteroid Belt into the outer solar system, we encounter three successive generations of gods, from Jupiter to his father Saturn, and finally on to Saturn's father Uranus. Uranus had no father. He was the first father - the ancestor of all living things - formed by Gaia (Mother Earth), out of her own substance, back at the beginning of time, when she was alone in the midst of chaos. Uranus was the Sky, perched on the mountain tops, and he showered his seed down on Gaia, and she gave birth to plants and animals and gods and men.

Uranus, the planet, is indeed perched on the mountain tops of the solar system. Just as Saturn was twice as far from the Sun as Jupiter, Uranus is twice again as far from the Sun as Saturn: 1.8 billion miles (2.88 billion kms). It has a diameter of 31,770 miles (51,118 kms) - many times larger than Earth - but because of its great distance, it appears as nothing more than a small star in all but the largest telescopes. The photo below was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, showing the planet's faint ring system, and some of its 27 moons.

Uranus is unique in the solar system in that it is tilted 98 degrees to the plane of its orbit, so that it travels around the sun sideways - so to speak. One day on Uranus lasts 17.25 hours, and one year lasts 84 Earth years.

In January, 2006, the Hubble Space Telescope found two new moons and two new rings around Uranus. The Hubble composite photo of the planet below left shows the evidence of the new finds, and the NASA diagram below right illustrates their exact location in the Uranus system.

Finder Chart for Uranus, November 2009 - December 2010

Uranus is the farthest planet discernable as such in a backyard telescope. It can be a bit of a challenge to find, and you should have at least a six inch scope and use the highest magnification you can. But if the "seeing" is good, you will be treated to the delightful sight of a little turquoise blue disk, very discernable from the points of light around it, that are the faraway stars. And you will wonder at the magic of being able to watch an alien blue world that is almost two billion miles away.

The finder chart below, will help you find Uranus. Being so far away, it moves slowly across the sky, so once you've found it, it's easy to find it again. As the chart shows, every six months or so, as Earth moves around the Sun, Uranus appears to change direction in the sky, and move back the way it came.

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