Something Has Exploded In a Spectacular Fashion On Uranus

Gizmodo.com ^ | October 30, 2011

[PJ-Comix]

Quit snickering! Something on Uranus has erupted and now scientists are all in a tizzy about what and why it might be.

The news is exciting for a number of reasons. The simplest being we know very little about Uranus, mostly due to its incredible distance form Earth and because it's, well, frankly one of the more "boring" planets out there.

But now, apparently, it's amazing again, all because of a mystery explosion in its atmosphere. Why is the explosion important? Mostly because Uranus's unique axis (on its side), amongst other things:

"The reason we care about the clouds on the planet Uranus is that they seem to be seasonally driven," said planetary scientist Heidi B. Hammel over at MSNBC.com. "Uranus spins tipped over on its side, giving rise to extreme changes in sunlight as its seasons progress. The changes are therefore much more dramatic than for other planets. Uranus thus gives us unique insight into the energy balance in a planetary atmosphere."

Add to that the fact that Uranus's northern hemisphere gets sunlight for 42 straight years while the southern is in darkness and this blue gem of the outer solar system starts to look a little less "boring" with each passing observation.

[GonzoGOP]

If it was a comet, wouldn’t we have seen it beforehand?

That far from the sun a comet doesn't have a tail. A small probably black or gray rock in a highly elliptical orbit. No chance we would have picked that up other than by absolute dumb luck. The outer solar system is very cold and dark. The sun isn't much brighter than any other star. (Insert the joke about Uranus being the place where the sun don't shine here). It makes spotting small objects by either visible or infrared very hard. And to plot a highly elliptical orbit you need multiple observations.

[bert]

——Was it internal or external-—

The knowledge is beyond my capacity

However. .....
The dots are in an arc on the same plane indicating the possibility of external strikes over a short time a la the strike on Jupiter. Except, the article says the rotation is slow and that means the interval between strikes is not short.

My thought was after seeing a recent piece on strikes on earth, and given the path of the strikes on both Jupiter and Uranus, perhaps it would be worth some scholars effort to determine if there are similar traces on Earth or Mars.

To speculate, comet would be a good guess based on the Jupiter incident. It was recently stated that Uranus has Rings. Perhaps the rings are the source of material that gave up resiting the gravity

[rollo tomasi]

"Perhaps the rings are the source of material that gave up resiting the gravity"

I am a extreme armature when dealing with the Cosmos, but your observation seems very plausible (Besides a "stealth" comet).

[MrKatykelly]

If its a tangential strike, maybe its just “skipping”.

[bert]

Good thought

I’m a champion rock skipper. My record is 33 skipsa

[dfwgator]

I know I’m being boring and there is nothing more fun than middle school humor but the name on the planet is pronounced like “ your’-in-us”, emphasis on the first syllable.

"You're no fun anymore."

[alarm rider]

Kindly leave my anus out of this thread....

[ixtl]

Apparently, Uranus is the Rodney Daingerfield of the Solar System. It gets no respect.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Captain Beyond. A freepun thread, and “extra extra” ping to the APoD list. Friday Silliness a day early?

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Captain Beyond.

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[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Captain Beyond.


Thanks .

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[Scythian]

My God, it's full of accusations against Cain ....

[left that other site]

I know the feeling.

[airborne]

Thank you!

Looks like maybe a comet or asteroid strike...?

[bert]

The Freeper MrKatykelly suggested that something struck tangentially and rather than penetrate, skipped across the surface producing the elongated marks in the same arc.

Having thought on the matter I think that seems plausible.

[NYer]

A Hubble picture of Uranus in 2005, shortly before the planet's equinox.

A false-color pictures of Uranus, its rings, and ten of its moons taken by Hubble in 1998.

[BrewingFrog]

There is also the possibility that a large comet, spiraling down to impact, would break up due to tidal stresses just like Shoemaker-Levy at Jupiter. Hence, the multiple, linear impact sites.

There’s a lot of stuff going -bonk- in the dark out there in the Oort Cloud that we don’t know diddley squat about...

[daisyscarlett]

Both pronunciations are correct..”Your anus” and “Urine on us”..kidlets are being taught the second way, scientists still prefer the original pronunciation. Uranus was named for a character in Greek myth....the only planet to have a Greek name background.

[Silentgypsy]

Nah. I would have noticed.

[rottndog]

"Something Has Exploded In a Spectacular Fashion On Uranus..."