Internal structure of Uranus, cutaway artwork. Earth is shown on the same scale at lower right. Uranus is a gas giant planet. At its centre is a dense

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Internal structure of Uranus, cutaway artwork. Earth is shown on the same scale at lower right. Uranus is a gas giant planet. At its centre is a dense rocky core (grey), over which lies a deep layer of water ice and other ices (white). This underlies an ocean of liquid hydrogen, which gradually gives way to a gaseous atmosphere as the pressure decreases. Uranus rotates with a pole facing the Sun, so appears to almost roll around the Sun. Its magnetic field is orientated strangely as well, being aligned at almost 60 degrees to the axis of rotation. Its blue colour is thought to result from absorption of red light by methane in its atmosphere.

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Size: 3500px × 3136px
Photo credit: © MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: artwork, astronomy, atmosphere, comparison, core, cosmology, cutaway, diagram, earth, gas, gases, giant, horizontal, hydrogen, illustration, internal, liquid, ocean, planet, planetary, scale, science, size, sizes, uranus