What is Uranus Made Of

The Uranus which is seventh in the series of planets present in our solar system, was discovered on 13th March, 1781 by William Herschel. And this faraway planet took its time to reveal the answer to, "What is Uranus made Of?", which is explored here in brief. Atmosphere of the Uranus is coldest among other planets and the main components are ammonia, water and methane. The minimum temperature that can be reached by this coldest planet is -224°C. The density of Uranus is 1.27g/cm3. Total mass of the planet is 14.5 times greater as that of Earth. Owing to the gaseous outer layer, Uranus doesn't have a hard surface.

Composition of Uranus
Uranus is made of three layers; the outer one is gaseous, middle layer is formed of ice, while the innermost layer is hard and rocky. The middle layer forms bulk of this planet and though it is known as the ice layer, a dense and hot mixture of ammonia, water and other substances are its components. Water clouds present in Uranus form the lower layers of atmosphere, while upper layers contain methane as their main component. The icy mantle is also referred to as water-ammonia ocean by scientists. If we compare the mass of earth and inner layer of Uranus, the latter is just 0.55% of the former. Density at the center of Uranus is 9 g/cm3 while temperature is 5000 K. Atmosphere of Uranus is composed of molecular helium and hydrogen. The helium molar fraction in upper troposphere is 0.15 +/- 0.03. This value is quite close to 0.275 +/- 0.01, the protosolar helium mass fraction. This indicates that, center of Uranus doesn't have helium settled in it. Cloud structure of the troposphere is said to be complex. Water clouds are present at the place/plane in troposphere where the pressure range is 50-100 bar. Percentage of methane found in the atmosphere is 2.3%. Stratosphere of Uranus contains traces of different types of hydrocarbons. Ultra-violet rays emitted from the Sun cause photolysis of methane, resulting into formation of hydrocarbons. The three-layered model of Uranus presented by scientists is considered as standard. However, different models based on correct observations are also proposed.

Rings of Uranus
The rings of Uranus are 13 in number and composed of dust and other macroscopic particles. Since, the rings are made of material which is dark, their geometric and Bond albedo is 5-6% and 2% respectively. It is difficult to say anything about the chemical composition of the Uranus rings. It is said that the rings might be composed of organic compounds; these organic compounds are darkened by radiations emerging from magnetosphere of Uranus.

Facts About Uranus
The facts about Uranus presented below are mostly those which provide information about structure and composition.

• The unique color that Uranus possesses, is obtained from methane. Red light absorbed by methane is reflected as blue giving the planet its color.
• Different layers of Uranus merge or blend into each other seamlessly. These layers are not separated by a clear border.
• The poles of Uranus are tilted to such an extent, that they almost face the Sun directly.
• Due to rapid rotation of Uranus, storms (600 km/hr) are formed on it .
• Images captured by Voyager 2, a spaceship, didn't show any significant features of the planet Uranus. However, increased weather activity and other signs of seasonal change have been observed in recent years. These changes were also seen by terrestrial observers during the equinox of Uranus.

Uranus is considered as a weird planet of our solar system due to the extremely tilted axis and other interesting information. Hopefully, the facts and information presented above, answers most questions about the composition of Uranus.