A big space crash likely made Uranus lopsided

Phys.org ^ | Dec 21, 2018 | Seth Borenstein

[ETL]

Cosmic Crash That Knocked Uranus Sideways Also Made Its Moons

Charles Q. Choi, Space.com Contributor
December 18, 2017

The giant impact from an Earth-size rock that knocked Uranus sideways may have also helped create the tilted planet's moons, a new study finds.

The poles along which Earth spins are mostly pointed the same way as the poles of the sun and nearly all the other planets of the solar system.

However, Uranus is an oddball in that its axis of spin is tilted by a whopping 98 degrees (relative to the plane of the solar system), meaning it essentially spins on its side.

No other planet in the solar system is tilted as much — Jupiter is tilted by about 3 degrees, for example, and Earth by about 23 degrees.

Now, researchers in Japan suggest a giant cosmic impact may not only have knocked Uranus on its side, but also created most of the planet's moons.

[Photos of Uranus, a Tilted Planet]

https://www.space.com/39123-crash-that-tilted-uranus-made-moons.html

[EdnaMode]

“Get it? Uranus?”
That kid in ET.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Army Air Corps for the ping to the other topic. :^)

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• Science Says: A big space crash likely made Uranus lopsided [2018]
• Study of Uranus Suggests Some of its Moons are on a Collision Course [2018]
• A massive object devastated Uranus a long time ago and it never fully recovered [2018]
• Did Something Massive Smash Into Uranus? [2018]
• 'Cataclysmic' collision shaped Uranus' evolution [2018]
• Why is Uranus on its Side? [2016]
• Did Jupiter Bumped the Giant Planet from Our Solar System? [2015]
• Neptune may have eaten a planet and stolen its moon [2010]
• Solving Solar System Quandaries Is Simple: Just Flip-flop The Position Of Uranus And Neptune [2007]
• Enigma of Uranus solved at last [2004]

[SunkenCiv]

BTW, you-RAY-nus is the correct pronounciation, it's right out of the Greek original. AFAIK, no one pulled the "YER-en-nus" crap until Carl Sagan. Apparently he also invented a "correct" pronounciation of Halley's Comet, which is generally pronounced "HAY lee's" in the US. NO WHERE is it pronounced "HAL ee" apart from Sagan boosters and wannabees (and the entertainment industry nitwits on The Big Bang Theory); in England, Edward Halley's name is correctly pronounced "HALL ee" making it "Hall ee's Comet" there.