Exploration of Uranus cloud tops. This was the probe's first solo planetary flyby, since "Voyager 1" ended its tour of the outer planets at Saturn's moon Titan. Uranus is the third-largest planet in the Solar System. It orbits the Sun at a distance of about and completes one orbit every 84 years. The length of a day on Uranus as measured by "Voyager 2" is 17 hours and 14 minutes. Uranus is distinguished by the fact that it is tipped on its side. Its unusual position is thought to be the result of a collision with a planet-sized body early in the Solar
Climate of Uranus the albedo patterns. In addition, the microwave data showed increases in pole–equator contrast after the 1986 solstice. Finally in the 1990s, as Uranus moved away from its solstice, Hubble and ground-based telescopes revealed that the south polar cap darkened noticeably (except the southern collar, which remained bright), whereas the northern hemisphere demonstrated increasing activity, such as cloud formations and stronger winds, having bolstered expectations that it would brighten soon. In particular, an analog of the bright polar collar present in its southern hemisphere at −45° was expected to appear in its northern part. This indeed happened in 2007 when Uranus