Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun, counting outwards. It sits between Saturn and Neptune. It is one of the four big gas planets — no hard ground to stand on — and it looks pale blue-green because of a gas called methane in its air. Two things about it are famous. First, it is tipped over on its side: most planets spin like a top standing up, but Uranus rolls along like a ball, so each pole gets about 42 years of sunlight and then about 42 years of dark. Second, it was the first planet found with a telescope, in 1781, by William Herschel. The older planets — Mercury out to Saturn — you can see with just your eyes, so people have known them forever. Uranus is also the only planet named from a Greek god rather than a Roman one; in the old stories, Ouranos is the sky, the father of Kronos (Saturn), who is the father of Zeus (Jupiter). So the names run backwards up the family: Jupiter, then his father Saturn, then his father Uranus. The word is a proper noun, so it always takes a capital letter and never takes 'the' or 'a'. One warning about saying it: many English speakers hear the common pronunciation as a rude joke, and there is a second pronunciation, YOOR-uh-nuss (stress on the first part), which teachers and scientists often prefer for exactly that reason. Nobody will laugh at you for choosing that one.