Source: Wikipedia
It’s Uranus Day! On March 13th, 1781 the astronomer William Herschel announced that he’d discovered the previously unknown planet that would be named Uranus. Uranus had been seen before, even by ancient astronomers, but everyone thought it was just a faint star until Herschel turned his telescope toward it and took a good, clear look at Uranus. The addition of Uranus helped expand the solar system and people have been intrigued and puzzled by Uranus ever since. It’s not the biggest planet in the solar system or even the farthest but, as the third largest of the gas giants, Uranus is still pretty big, full of hydrogen and helium. There are twenty-seven known moons orbiting it and there are even rings around Uranus, although they’re faint and set at an odd angle. And scientists are learning new things about Uranus all the time, including very recently discovering a new moon, bringing its total to twenty-nine.
It takes Uranus eighty-four Earth years to orbit the sun, and yet a day on Uranus is just a little over seventeen hours. Uranus spins really fast!
That’s all about the planet Uranus. I’d now like to focus on the town of Uranus, along the historic Route 66. More of a tourist attraction than a small town it’s really home to a lot of fun attractions. The world’s biggest belt buckle is there–it’s more than ten feet tall and would probably fit a pair of pants just big enough to hold all of Uranus. There’s a whole weird collection of attractions including the fudge factory and the Sideshow Museum. It just seems like a fun and interesting place that makes Uranus worth a look. So far I haven’t visited there but I hope to one of these days. I did contact the tourist center there and asked if they were doing anything special on March 13th. They nicely replied, “We meant to but got busy and didn’t have time to schedule anything. Maybe next year.”
I was glad for the answer and also took the reminder that, being of a certain age, I really need to schedule a colonoscopy.
Source: Our Changing Lives
I’m always so happy when you talk about Uranus.????
mydangblog recently posted…Charybdis Is Here!
I like that there really is a whole Uranus fan club out there and I’m not the only one who celebrates March 13th. Not that I have anything to do with spreading it.
Even when I’m behind, Chris, I always appreciate learning new things about Uranus.
There’s nothing retrograde about your comments.