16. URANUS

In January 1986 the VOYAGER II arrived at Uranus after a flight of about 10 years. Its speed was then 40.000 km/h. Uranus , at a distance of 2.7 million km and only one third of Jupiter, deviates considerably in composition and atmosphere from that of Jupiter or Saturn: no bands, no patches, no spiral or gasmixtures and a strange, weak magnetic field. Uranus has 27 moons of which the largest ones are given in the second picture. Uranus orbits the sun in 84 year, during that time the position of its rings is variing as seen from the earth: see the third picture. Next year: 2007, the rings will appear edge-on.