Say What?
Uranus is the only planet with a name sure to elicit giggles. The proper way to say the name is YOOR--un--nus. It was almost named 'Georgium Sidus' to honor an English king, but tradition prevailed and in 1850 the planet got its frequently mispronounced mythological name.

Sideswiped
Uranus' unique sideways rotation makes for weird seasons. The planet's north pole experiences 21 years of nighttime in winter, 21 years of daytime in summer and 42 years of day and night in the spring and fall. Scientists think the tilt may be the result of a collision with a planet-sized object.

Is That Planet Flirting?
Uranus' rings were discovered by accident. Two teams set up to watch a bright star pass behind Uranus - a way to peek at the planet's atmosphere - were surprised when the star unexpectedly blinked out. Nine of Uranus's rings caused the star to wink at them as each ring in turn blocked the light of the star.

Shakespearian Satellites
Uranus' moons get their names from classic literature, not mythology. Among the moons orbiting Uranus, you will find Shakespeare's star-crossed lover Juliet of ''Romeo and Juliet'', unfortunate Ophelia from ''Hamlet'' and that mischievous fairy Puck from ''A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Quick Study
Only one spacecraft has visited distant Uranus. After traveling more than 3,000,000,000 km (1,800,000,000 miles) in nine years, NASA's Voyager 2 gathered much of its critical information about the mysterious planet in a scant six hours.

Long Distance Upgrade
Think upgrading software your computer is a pain? Try doing it from billions of kilometers away. Voyager 2's mission controllers pulled off a long- distance upgrade in 1986 to enable the spacecraft to send back sharp pictures taken at high speed in faint sunlight - only 1/400th of the light we see on Earth.