Uranus | Planetary path

The planet Uranus

On the Planet Trail
The plaque is located on a parallel path north of the Baltic Sea coastal cycle path (D2) in the middle of the Stoltera forest. About 200 metres further on, you will come to the turn-off to the forest path, which leads directly to Diedrichshagen. Please note that the Uranus sign is unfortunately about 400 metres further west than it should have been according to the distances on the signs.

The planet Uranus
Uranus was discovered on 13 March 1781 by the astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel and is named after the Greek sky god Uranos.

Under very good observation conditions, it is just visible to the naked eye. Its brightness is at the limit of what can still be recognised without optical aids.

Uranus is about four times the size of Earth and is one of the Jupiter-like planets. It has a complex ring system and numerous moons, including many captured satellites at a large distance from the planet, which are called "irregular" moons. Uranus and Neptune are also known as "ice giants" due to ice deposits in their interiors.

One of the planet's peculiarities is its axis of rotation, which lies almost in the orbital plane around the sun. This means that after every half orbit, the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere point towards the sun.

Only one space probe has ever reached Uranus. On 24 January 1986, "Voyager 2" flew past the planet.