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A year in the sky of Uranus

Uranus is tipped about 98° on its side, so over its 84-year orbit each pole takes a turn pointing almost straight at the Sun. Pick a spot on the planet and run the year to watch the Sun spiral up, circle overhead without setting, then sink into decades of night.

Sun now Today's path Below the horizon Recent motion

One Uranian year, 84 Earth years

The band is the Sun's daily range of altitude at your latitude. Above the line it's up, below it's down. Drag to move through time.

Day and night

Date on Earth
Season
Sun altitude now
Highest / lowest today
Sun's declination

Or stand at the same latitude as a city on Earth

Seen from above the Sun. The axis stays fixed in space, so the north pole (marked N) faces the Sun at one solstice and points away 42 years later.

How it's modeled. Axial tilt 97.77°, a 17.24-hour day, and a circular 84.02-year orbit starting at the northern spring equinox of December 2007. The real orbit is slightly elliptical, so actual solstice and equinox dates differ by a year or two.

Which way is up. The dome is the sky seen lying on your back, so east is on the left. Using the IAU's north pole, Uranus spins backwards, so the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east.

Not to scale. Each spin of the Sun here stands for one Uranian day. A real year holds about 42,700 of them, so the spiral's spacing is hugely stretched. From Uranus the Sun is a tiny, brilliant point about 1/370 as bright as on Earth. There's no solid surface, so picture yourself floating above the clouds.