The explanation for this is that in its formation history, Uranus collided with an Earth-sized object which lead to the change of its rotation.
Our neighboring planet Venus is an oddball in many ways. For starters, it spins in the opposite direction from most other planets, including Earth, so that on Venus the sun rises in the west.
Cataclysmic collision
Our solar system used to be a much more violent place, with protoplanets (bodies developing to become planets) colliding in violent giant impacts that helped create the worlds we see today. Most researchers believe that Uranus' spin is the consequence of a dramatic collision.
Planet Uranus rotates in opposite direction to Earth; know what cosmic tragedy caused it. Uranus is an oddball in the solar system as it has retrograde rotation- opposite that of the Earth. We all know that all the eight planets of our solar system revolve around the sun as well as rotate on their own axis.
Every planet in our solar system except for Venus and Uranus rotates counter-clockwise as seen from above the North Pole; that is to say, from west to east.
Orbit and Rotation
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.
Answer: Most of the objects in our solar system, including the Sun, planets, and asteroids, all rotate counter-clockwise. This is due to the initial conditions in the cloud of gas and dust from which our solar system formed. As this gas and dust cloud began to collapse it also began to rotate.
Yes, Venus spins backwards compared to most of the other planets. It spins or rotates in the opposite direction that Earth rotates. This means that on Venus the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east.
The problem is that the pressures inside Uranus are enormous at those temperatures, and would crush life. The other problem is that life on Earth requires sunlight to provide energy. There's no process inside Uranus, like volcanism on Earth, that would give life inside the planet a form of energy.
Most of the planets spin in a counter-clockwise direction (prograde motion) including our Earth. But only two planets, Venus and Uranus spins in clockwise direction (retrograde motion).
Good luck getting any sleep on Jupiter! This humongous gas giant rotates faster than any other planet in the Solar System, completing a day in less than 10 hours!
Cosmic Moves: The Rotation of the Planets
The planets all revolve around the sun in the same direction and in virtually the same plane. In addition, they all rotate in the same general direction, with the exceptions of Venus and Uranus.
But there are some planets that appear to not rotate, something astronomers refer to as tidal locking. These are worlds that show the same face to their star at all times, resulting in permanent night and day sides.
But Venus and Uranus are the exceptions: they have what's known as retrograde rotation, spinning counter to the rotation of the Sun.
If you look at the solar system from its north pole, then you will see all the planets orbiting the Sun counter clockwise and rotating on their axis counterclockwise, except for Venus and Uranus. Venus rotates clockwise while Uranus rolls on its side as it orbits the Sun.
A new study has found that “diamond rain” may be more common on ice giant planets like Neptune and Uranus than previously thought. For the first time, scientists were able to observe diamond rain as it formed with their experiment designed to mimic the extreme temperatures and pressure found on those planets.
Mercury and Venus are not in the habitable zone because they are too close to the Sun to harbor liquid water.
It's about 3.6 billion miles away from the Sun, and it has a thin atmosphere composed mostly of nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide. On average, Pluto's temperature is -387°F (-232°C), making it too cold to sustain life.
Ice Giant. Uranus is an ice giant. Most of its mass is a hot, dense fluid of "icy" materials – water, methane and ammonia – above a small rocky core.
An explanation for the backward, or retrograde, rotation is not certain. A long-held theory is that Venus once rotated as the other planets do, but was struck billions of years ago by a planet-size object. The impact and its aftermath caused the rotation to change directions or flipped the planetary axis.
Every planet orbits the Sun in the same direction. If you viewed the solar system from above the Sun's north pole, they'd all be moving counterclockwise. But what we see doesn't always reflect that. Right now, for example, the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn are moving backwards — a motion known as retrograde.
If the Earth suddenly started spinning in the opposite direction, everything not fixed to the ground would be launched at 3200 km/hr eastward. This would happen because everything will still be rotating due to inertia towards the east, while the ground suddenly moves towards the west.
As long as our planet still rotating the same way around the sun (counterclockwise if you are looking down on the North Pole), the seasons would still be the same. Another big difference is that the wind and ocean “gyres” (the loops that wind and ocean currents move in) would be reversed.
The direction that the Milky Way spins depends on your perspective. For example, take a top and spin it clockwise on a glass table. Then look at the spinning top from below the glass table - it will appear to spin counter-clockwise now.