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Uranus

Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun.

It is a gas giant, the third largest by diameter and fourth largest by mass.

NASA's Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have visited the planet and no other visits are currently planned.

Launched in 1977, Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Uranus on January 24, 1986, before continuing its journey to Neptune. Uranus is the first planet discovered in modern times.

Sir William Herschel formally discovered the planet on March 13, 1781; the other planets (from Mercury out to Saturn) have been known since ancient times, and Uranus' discovery expanded the boundaries of the solar system for the first time in modern human history.

It was also the first planet discovered using technology (a telescope) rather than the naked eye..

For more information about the topic Uranus, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:

Note: This page refers to an article that is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the article Uranus at Wikipedia.org. See the Wikipedia copyright page for more details.

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