THE SOLAR SYSTEM:
URANUS

PLANET URANUS LESSON

Directions:

Print the Uranus reading comprehension passage and questions (see below).

Students should read the passage silently, then answer the questions.  Teachers may also use the text as part of a classroom lesson plan.

Lesson Excerpt

     Uranus (pronounced YOOR un nus) is the seventh planet from the sun.  Uranus got its name from the Roman god of the sky who was the father of Saturn.  It is 1 billion, 783 million miles from the sun.  Uranus is more than 19 times farther from the sun than the Earth is. It is so far away from the sun that light takes two hours and forty minutes to get there!  It takes the planet 84 years to revolve once around the sun.  Because of its distance from the sun, it is very, very cold.  Its average temperature is about 350(F) degrees below zero!

     Uranus was discovered in 1781 by Sir William Herschel.  Looking at Uranus through a telescope, it looks bluish-green.  This is because of methane gas in the atmosphere.  The atmosphere is mostly hydrogen gas (83%), with some helium and about 2% methane.  Uranus is a gas giant with a rocky center.  It does not have a solid surface.  It is the third largest planet, after Jupiter and Saturn.  It is about four times the diameter of Earth.  Gravity on Uranus is about 91% of Earth's gravity.  If you weighed 100 pounds on Earth, you would weigh 91 pounds on Uranus.  Its diameter is 31,800 miles or about 51,000 km. 

Continued...