It has 27 moons, all small, which are named after characters in Shakespeare.
Most planets are spinning like a top in their orbit. For instance, the earth's axis is 23.5 degree from vertical. However, Uranus is on its side. Its axis points to the sun. Its north pole gets 42 years of light followed by 42 years of dark.
Why would Uranus orbit on its side?
It was thought that something very big hit it, but its moons are in same plane so that doesn't make sense.A new suggestion, from many computer simulations is as follows. When the giant planets Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune were formed, they were close together. The then interacted and migrated. In one set of contrived circumstances, it is thought that Uranus got knocked slightly out of its orbiting plane. This along with a big moon (1% of planet mass) would be enough to knock it on its side. Then somehow the big moon disappeared. It could have been snatched away because Uranus was close to another planet perhaps.
Discovery
Sir William Herschel discovered it in 1781. He wanted to name it Georgium Sidus after King George III but Europe didn't like it. Eventually they decided on Uranus since Uranus is the father of Saturn, and Saturn the father of Jupiter (Greek mythology). It was not until 1850 that it was universally accepted.Uranium, discovered about 8 or 9 years after Uranus, was named after the planet. This helped the name stick.
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranushttp://www.sixtysymbols.com/videos/uranus.htm
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