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.

[SunkenCiv]

;’)

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks NYer.

[Chickensoup]

What does the Starship Enterprise and toilet paper have in common?
They cirle Uranus looking for Klingons. Sorry I couldn’t help myself!
__________________________________

Hey impala64, I think that joke was old in 64!! But it was a goodie.

[IrishPennant]

Not the same but reminded me of this pic I had stashed away...

[SunkenCiv]

• Starship Fuel from the Outer System (gas mining operation on Uranus)
• Project Icarus: The Gas Mines of Uranus
• Scientists plan mission to probe Uranus
• In a Rare View, Rings on Uranus Show Their Changes
• The Dark Side of the Rings of Uranus
• Diamonds unlikely in gas giants like Uranus
• Hubble spots dark spot on Uranus (picture)
• Uranus Ring Turns Out Blue
• Uranus is 'responsible' for sea quakes (Funny Title of the Day Award?)
• UC Berkeley scientists report new rings found around Uranus (a blue ring and a red ring)
• The Second Ring-Moon System of Uranus: Discovery and Dynamics
• Hubble discovers new rings and moons around Uranus
• Hubble spots Uranus' moons, rings
• Two more rings discovered around Uranus
• Planet list includes hard-to-find Uranus

[Grimmy]

“And people wonder why our education system is in the toilet (wording intentional),and that NASA is being slowly dismantled. If the responses to this post are any example of the general mindset of the American public, the answer is here.”

Sounds like you’ve got a mild case of galled stones in your humor duct.