Posted on 08/06/2016 8:37:29 AM PDT by BenLurkin
It’s impossible to do an article about Uranus without opening up the back door to a spit storm of potty humour....
Anyway, perhaps one of the strangest aspects of Uranus is its tilt....
The Earth is tilted 23.5 degrees away from the Sun’s equator. Mars is 25 degrees, and even Mercury is 2.1 degrees tilted....
Uranus is 97.8 degrees...
...[A]stronomers define the angle as greater than 90 degrees when you take its direction of rotation into account. When you describe it as turning in the same direction as the rest of the planets in the Solar System, then you have to measure it this way.
What could have done that to Uranus, how could it have happened?
...
The early planets smashed into each other, pushed one another into new orbits. Some planets could have been spun out of the Solar System entirely, while others might have been driven into the Sun. Our own Moon was likely formed when a Mars-sized object crashed into the Earth. Other moons might have been captured from three body interactions between worlds...
The Solar System that you see today contains the survivors. Everything that wasn’t delivered a death blow.
... This means that something smashed into Uranus while it was still surrounded by the disk of gas and dust that its moons formed from.
... Astronomers think it was more complicated than that, however. If it was a single, massive collision, models suggest the planet would just flip over entirely, and end up rotating backwards from the other planets in the Solar System.
It’s more likely that another collision or even a series of collisions put the brakes on Uranus’ end over end roll, putting it into its current configuration.
(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...
Because you’re lying down??
For easier access.
Sounds painful. Hemorrhoids, maybe?
Spooning
When astronomers have no idea how something happened they invoke just right collisions that just happen to do the job.
The number of just right collisions to give us the solar system we see defies common sense. It’s like playing billiards and with one shot having all the balls sink in pockets in numerical order.
Colostomy?
Shouldn't they be called "Asteroids"?
Maybe it took a direct hit from an asteroid:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/uranus-axial-tilt-obliquity/
Because of The Rising Tide of Racism in Amerikkka!
It would be like that if all the planets had identical tilt, maybe. But the solar system is a hodgepodge of different tilts.
Sounds like Uranus got its ass kicked.
It’s the way the do exams - ask one of them doctors.
Wrong thread old chap.
I think this time period in astronomical science is one of the most fascinating in history. So many new discoveries and eye opening observations. A busy person can hardly keep up with all the developments.
The ultimate cause as to why Uranus rolls on its side, will probably be more interesting than the effect itself. It’s an amazing universe, and we humans have only begun to scratch the surface of its wonders.
You mean "Assteroids"?
Because it’s pretending to be Guam.
Uranus is often referred to as an “ice giant” planet: Like the other gas giants, it has a hydrogen upper layer, which has helium mixed in. Below that is an icy “mantle, which surrounds a rock and ice core.
http://space-facts.com/uranus/
LOL, outstanding!! XD
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