Uranus

Difficulty 3 / 3

Size 20 x 20 x 1 (cm)

50 unique elements

Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and has the third largest diameter in our solar system. With a radius of 25 362 kilometers, Uranus is 4 times wider than Earth. If Earth were a large apple, Uranus would be the size of a basketball. Uranus distance from the Sun is about 2.9 billion kilometers. From this distance, it takes sunlight 2 hours and 40 minutes to travel from the Sun to Uranus.

Uranus was the first planet found with the aid of a telescope, discovered in 1781 by astronomer William Herschel, although he originally thought it was either a comet or a star. It was two years later that the object was universally accepted as a new planet, in part because of observations by astronomer Johann Elert Bode. Uranus took shape when the rest of the solar system formed about 4.5 billion years ago, when gravity pulled swirling gas and dust in to become this ice giant. Like its neighbour Neptune, Uranus likely formed closer to the Sun and moved to the outer solar system about 4 billion years ago.

Uranus is very cold and windy ice giant. Most (80% or more) of the planet's mass is made up of a hot dense fluid of "icy" materials – water, methane and ammonia – above a small rocky core. Near the core, it heats up to 4982°C.

Uranus gets its blue-green colour from methane gas in the atmosphere. Sunlight passes through the atmosphere and is reflected back out by cloud tops. Methane gas absorbs the red portion of the light, resulting in a blue-green colour.

The ice giant Uranus is surrounded by 13 faint rings and 27 small moons as it rotates at a nearly 90-degree angle from the plane of its orbit. This unique tilt makes Uranus appear to spin on its side, orbiting the Sun like a rolling ball. Uranus takes about 17 hours to rotate once (a Uranian day) and about 84 Earth years to complete an orbit of the Sun (a Uranian year).

Uranus is the only planet whose equator is nearly at a right angle to its orbit, with a tilt of 97.77 degrees – possibly the result of a collision with an Earth-sized object long ago. This unique tilt causes the most extreme seasons in the solar system. For nearly a quarter of each Uranian year, the Sun shines directly over each pole, plunging the other half of the planet into a 21-year-long, dark winter.

Uranus is also one of just two planets that rotate in the opposite direction than most of the planets (Venus is the other one), from east to west.

Uranus doesn’t have a true surface. The planet is mostly swirling fluids. While a spacecraft would have nowhere to land on Uranus, it wouldn’t be able to fly through its atmosphere unscathed either. The extreme pressures and temperatures would destroy a metal spacecraft.

This 50 piece, 20cm square puzzle features Uranus in stunning clarity. The image, courtesy of Nasa, is one of the clearest images of Uranus to date.

The difficulty level of this puzzle is high. Although the puzzle is challenging, clear and high quality image makes this Uranus puzzle enjoyable to assemble.

All Behäppi puzzles are hand crafted in Estonia from top quality FSC certified birch plywood.