Uranus and Neptune

Question 1

Waht is the rotation period of Neptune in hours

Answer 1

16.1 hours

Question 2

Who calculated the position of Neptune (and in what year)

Whose lead did he follow

Answer 2

Urbain Leverrier in 1846

following a lead from John Couch Adams

Question 3

How many moons is Uranus known to have

What makes up the three main groups

Answer 3

28

5 Major moons

13 small inner moons

9 small outer moons

1 other one not clear about yet. The latest moon was found in 2024

Question 3

What is the mass of Neptune (in Earth masses)

What is the gravity at the surface (earth =1)

Answer 3

17. 1
18. 1

Question 4

Who discovered Uranus, and in what year

What did he originally call it

When did the same astronomer discover Uranus’s two largest moons

Answer 4

William Herschel in 1781

Georgium Sidus (‘Georgian Star’)

Discovered the largest moons in 1787

Question 4

What is the average cloud top temperature of Neptune

Answer 4

-201 degrees C

Question 4

In what year was Pluto demoted

Answer 4

2006

Question 5

What is the mean cloud-top temperatures on Uranus

How cold can it get

Answer 5

• 197C degrees
  but. . it can reach -224C making it the coldest planet in the solar system

Question 5

Who nearly discovered Neptune

What is the similar story behind Uranus

Answer 5

Galileo in 1612. He drew it behind Jupiter, but thought it was a star

Uranus was first seen in 1690 by John Flamstead who entered it in his star catalogue. it was seen another 22 times before it was discovered to be a planet

Question 6

What is the mean distance of Neptune from the Sun in AU

Answer 6

30.1

Question 6

Who came up with the name Uranus (and when)

Answer 6

Johann Bode in 1850

Herschel had called it Georgium Sidus (George’s Star)

Question 7

What are the major moons of Uranus in order of distance from the planet (closest first), and in order of size

Answer 7

Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon

In size order

Titania, Oberon, Umbriel, Ariel, Miranda

Question 8

What is odd about Uranus’s magnetic field

Answer 8

Its off-centre and massively lopsided

Question 9

What is the rotation period of Uranus in hours

Answer 9

17.2

Question 11

Which famous English brewer discovered Umbriel and Ariel

Answer 11

William Lassell in 1851

Question 12

Who discovered Triton and when

Answer 12

William Lassell in 1846 just 17 days after the discovery of Neptune

It took more than a century before another moon was found there.

Question 13

What is the gravity of Uranus at the equator (with Earth =1)

Answer 13

0.89

Question 14

How many moons does Neptune have

Answer 14

16

Two discovered in 2024

Question 15

What provides the blue colour to Neptune’s atmosphere

Answer 15

methane

Question 17

What is the equitorial diameter of Uranus in km

Answer 17

51,118 km

Question 18

What is the mean distance of Uranus from the Sun in AU

Answer 18

19.2

Question 19

After Triton, what are Neptune’s two next biggest moons

any idea how small?

Answer 19

Proteus (c.400km diameter)

Nereid (c.340km in diameter)

Question 20

How does Triton rank in solar system moons (what is its diameter)

Answer 20

7th

2700km

Question 22

What is the axial tilt of Uranus

What does that mean for its direction of rotation

Answer 22

98 degrees

It means that like Venus it rotates in a retrograde motion

Question 23

How many rings does Neptune have, when was their existance confirmed Who are they named after

Answer 23

5 confirmed at the arrival of Voyager 2 in 1989 astromers who were central to Neptune's discovery

Question 25

When was Uranus's ring system first discovered How many rings does Uranus have (how many different types?)

Answer 25

1977, by a a flying observatory on a C141A Starlifter Uranus has 13 rings, all as dark as coal There are 11 inner rings and 2 outer rings, discovered later by Hubble in 2005.

Question 26

What is the axial tilt of Neptune

Answer 26

28.3 degrees

Question 27

What is the orbital period of Uranus in years

Answer 27

84.3

Question 28

When did astonomers realise Uranus was straying from its predicted orbit

Answer 28

1843

Question 29

Who first observes Neptune

Answer 29

Johann Galle

Question 31

What is the equitorial diameter of Neptune

Answer 31

49,528km

Question 32

What is the Mass of Uranus(in units of Earth Mass)

Answer 32

14.5

Question 33

What is the orbital period of Neptune

Answer 33

164.8 years

Question 34

What is odd about its heat output - what does this mean

Answer 34

Unlike other gas giants, it gives off less than it recieves, suggesting it may have been cooled suddenly by an immense impact (possibly the one that left it on its side)

Question 35

Name of most significant feature?

Answer 35

Miranda (moon of Uranus) Some of the weirdest geology in the solar system, including Verona Rupes, a 20-kilometer-high scarp that is the tallest cliff in the Solar System,

Question 36

Who

Answer 36

William Herschel (1738 - 1822)

Question 37

Why are Uranus and Neptune described as Ice Giants What are the ices?

Answer 37

An ice giant is a giant planet composed mainly of substances heavier than hydrogen and helium, such as oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. They consist of only about 20% hydrogen and helium in mass, as opposed to the gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn), which are both more than 90% hydrogen and helium in mass. The atmospheres, however, are predominantly hydrogen and helium Funny definition of ice, but there you go (Because during their formation Uranus and Neptune incorporated their material as either ices or gas trapped in water ice, the term ice giant came into use- Today, there is very little ice left in Uranus and Neptune.) Today the ices refer to water, ammonia and methane

Question 38

Why does methane in the atmosphere give a bluish hue to Uranus and Neptune Why is Neptune so vividly blue given it has the same atmospheric methane content as Uranus

Answer 38

The atmospheric methane absorbs red light The more intense colouring of Neptune is a mystery - something else must be contributing, but what it is is unknown.

Question 39

Why are there such violent storms on Neptune

Answer 39

Differential rotation of the atmosphere The equatorial zone rotates slow than the planet's magnetic field but the polar zone rotates faster than the magnetic field These differences are the most pronounced in the solar system

Question 40

When will Triton eventually collide with Neptune? Why?

Answer 40

3.6billion years Its retrograde orbit and relative proximity mean it suffers tidal deceleration.