Uranus: The Tilted Planet

Uranus is the third largest planet after Jupiter and Saturn . This picture was snapped by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1986 - the only spacecraft ever to visit Uranus . Uranus has many moons and a ring system. Uranus is composed mostly of rock and ices, but with a thick hydrogen and helium atmosphere. Uranus is peculiar in that its rotation axis is greatly tilted and sometimes points near the Sun . It remains an astronomical mystery why Uranus' axis is so tilted. Uranus and Neptune are very similar.