Planets · Planet
A pale blue-green world: compare Voyager 2’s true-colour view with Webb’s infrared image of Uranus and its rings.
Featured palette: Voyager 2 true-colour view, 17 January 1986 (Sampled from this image)
#73828A#8A9CA5#76868F#616E76#4A5357#070604#2E302F
Credit: NASA/JPL. Voyager 2 narrow-angle camera · 1986-01-17
About Uranus
Uranus is an ice giant whose atmosphere is mostly hydrogen and helium with a small amount of methane. NASA explains its blue-green colour by methane absorbing the red part of sunlight.
| Classification | Planet |
|---|---|
| Orbits | Sun |
| Diameter | 51,118 kmequatorial diameter · NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive |
| Orbital period | 30,589 daysorbital period around the Sun · NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive |
| Rotation period | -17.2 hourssidereal rotation period (negative: retrograde) · NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive |
| Length of day | 17.2 hourslength of a solar day · NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive |
| Axial tilt | 97.8°obliquity to orbit (axial tilt) · NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive |
| Mean temperature | -195 °Cmean temperature as defined by the NASA fact sheet (surface or 1-bar level); not comparable with stellar temperatures · NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive |
| Known moons | 28number of known moons on the access date · as listed on 2026-10-25 · NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive |
| Ring system | Yeshas a ring system · NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive |
Why these colours?
True colour
Voyager 2’s 1986 view was processed to show Uranus as the eye would see it from the spacecraft: a smooth pale blue-green.
From: Voyager 2 true-colour view, 17 January 1986 Approximate visible appearance
Infrared
Webb’s image brings out the rings and polar brightening in light we cannot see; the colours are assigned.
From: Webb near-infrared view, February 2023 Mapped non-visible data
Colour clusters describe pixels in an image; they cannot identify a mineral, a gas or a physical temperature. Shares of pixels describe the sampled region of the image, not the object’s surface.
Colours from selected views
Palettes sampled from identified images and regions, or calculated from a documented model. These values describe each image or model, not one permanent colour of Uranus.
Voyager 2 true-colour view, 17 January 1986
Sampled from this image · Voyager 2 true-colour view, 17 January 1986
#73828ARGB 115, 130, 138region average#8A9CA5RGB 138, 156, 16533% of the region#76868FRGB 118, 134, 14322% of the region#616E76RGB 97, 110, 11818% of the region#4A5357RGB 74, 83, 8711% of the region#070604RGB 7, 6, 410% of the region#2E302FRGB 46, 48, 475% of the region
See where these colours came from
Webb near-infrared view, February 2023
Sampled from this image · Webb near-infrared view, February 2023
#74838ARGB 116, 131, 138region average#09090ERGB 9, 9, 1455% of the region#2B3135RGB 43, 49, 5313% of the region#D5E6ECRGB 213, 230, 2369% of the region#4F5657RGB 79, 86, 878% of the region#7C8586RGB 124, 133, 1348% of the region#94C5DBRGB 148, 197, 2196% of the region
See where these colours came from
Creative palettes inspired by Uranus
A design derived from the selected representation. It is not a scientific colour measurement. Each colour keeps the sampled colour it was made from.
Ice Giant
Inspired by this object
#2F2E2ARGB 47, 46, 42from #070604#4D4F4ERGB 77, 79, 78from #2E302F#6A7478RGB 106, 116, 120from #4A5357#8C9AA3RGB 140, 154, 163from #616E76#B1C2CCRGB 177, 194, 204from #76868F#D8EBF5RGB 216, 235, 245from #8A9CA5
Voyager’s blue-greens spread into a calm, cool palette.
Explore the views and the 3D model
Voyager 2 true-colour view, 17 January 1986Approximate visible appearanceWebb near-infrared view, February 2023Mapped non-visible dataPick a colour from the image. Click or tap the picture to read a colour. Picked colours are yours, not catalogue samples.
Schematic sphere A plain sphere tinted with the anchor colour of the named view; it shows no surface detail and no measured shape. A plain sphere tinted with the anchor colour from the Voyager true-colour image; no surface map is used. Objects are enlarged or scaled for inspection unless stated otherwise.
Use these colours
Every palette above opens in the palette generator. With JavaScript you can also add colours to your cosmic palette, save them, make a gradient or pattern, preview them in a design or a room (you choose which colour goes on which surface), check digital accessibility and export them. Each colour keeps the view and sample it came from.
Paint matches compare digital swatches for design inspiration. They are not physical equivalents of light from space. Edits create a new design palette. The original representation remains unchanged.
Questions about Uranus’s colours
Why is Uranus blue-green?
Methane in its atmosphere absorbs red light, so the reflected light looks blue-green.
Sources
- About the Planets — NASA
- Planetary Fact Sheet — Metric — NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive (Metric table, retrieved 2026-10-25 (sha256 42bdc3f1dae470b8…))
- Uranus in True and False Color — NASA
- Zoomed-in image of Uranus — ESA/Webb
Image credits
- Voyager 2 true-colour view, 17 January 1986: NASA/JPL. NASA media (not copyrighted; see the NASA image and media guidelines). Resized for the web from the publisher’s file (sha256 d85efe044e8ee1b13357f2098617821e96cfa36c515656506ac0124bcf5f1e1c).
- Webb near-infrared view, February 2023: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. DePasquale (STScI). CC BY 4.0. Resized for the web from the publisher’s file (sha256 f4370bf02f89c30273426e0cc8fac0eb6237f8f9721d31e5d32b2bd292a95f91).
Images were resized once for the web; colours were measured from the published files (k-means in OKLab, pcke-oklab-kmeans-1); calculated colours use the CIE 1931 2° observer. Facts last reviewed 25 October 2026. Catalogue pcke-cosmos-2026-10-25, page revision a0b26f429359. No ESA, ESO or NASA endorsement is implied.