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Encyclopedia > Uranus I

URANUS



Credit : HST/STSCI
Uranus seen by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) infrared to avoid glare by the planet. Note satellites beyond the ring.

Uranus is the third so-called "giant" planets after Jupiter and Saturn. Like them, it has rings but they are not visible in a small telescope. It is a gaseous planet, with water inside. 
  

Uranus is not, unlike Jupiter and Saturn, easily visible to the naked eye. It is smaller and far from the Earth. However, it has a small apparent disk in a telescope. Curiously, the equatorial plane (which is also the ring plane and the orbital plane of the satellites) is very different from the plane of the orbit of Uranus, unlike other planets.