Uranus takes a pounding more frequently than thought

Uranus isn't just gassy, it's also tilted completely sideways, such that instead of rotating like a spinning top, it rolls around the plane of the solar system more like a giant ball. Now astronomers think they know how this happened, and it means that Uranus has been pounded really, really hard not once, but twice.

Uranus' axial tilt of 98 degrees means that it's got one pole pointed almost directly at the sun, and one pole pointed out into space. As the planet revolves around the sun, these poles slowly switch places, meaning that if you lived there, you'd get 42 years of sunlight followed by 42 years of darkness, with a short time in between where things would seem almost normal.

Needless to say, this sort of behavior is a bit strange for Uranus, although nobody's quite been able to determine how it happened. New simulations from astronomers at the Observatory of Côte d'Azur in Nice, France may have just figured it out, and the answer seems to be that Uranus has suffered from not one but two giant impacts.

The only reliable way to change the tilt of one planet is to smash it with another planet of comparable size. While planets running into other planets isn't something that happens very often nowadays, back in the tempestuous youth of the solar system, it was relatively common: a planet the size of Mars hitting Earth four and a half billion years ago probably blasted off enough stuff to form the moon, for example. But with Uranus, one collision big enough to knock the entire planet sideways would also have screwed up Uranus' system of moons, which isn't the case.

more

http://dvice.com/archives/2011/10/we-now-know-why.php

:rofl:
rocktivity

:rofl:

:bounce:

Boob.

"Oh, I'm sorry Fry, scientists renamed Uranus years ago to rid the earth of that stupid joke once and for all. Now it's called Urectum!"

:rofl:

;-)

I'll be sitting in the corner if you need me...

:spank:
rocktivity

Whose anus?

Shakes rolled up newspaper at you.


LOL

:evilgrin:

Special Achievement Category.

And I made a screen capture in case the headline gets "revised" later on today.

:headbang:
rocktivity

Okay, last one, I promise...

:spank:
rocktivity

This could be one of those vast corporate conspiracies!



:rofl:
rocktivity