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10-13-2011, 07:39 AM | |
The Beast Inside Your Head
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Uranus Takes A Pounding More Frequently Than Thought
http://dvice.com/archives/2011/10/we-now-know-why.php
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. Replacing that one big impact with two slightly smaller impacts, though, works out perfectly. Each impact would have involved a planet the size of the Earth punching into Uranus several billion years ago, early enough that Uranus' moons could still have made it into their current orbits. Interestingly, an impact of about the same size is also thought to have happened to Neptune, which is making astronomers wonder whether the model they have for the formation of the outer planets is quite right. It's always been assumed that way out around Uranus and Neptune, things were pretty chill, with the gas giants slowly forming by sweeping up gas and dust in their orbits. But if these latest impact simulations are correct, it implies that the outer solar system was a much more violent place than we ever thought. |
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10-13-2011, 07:41 AM | #2 |
Everybody Lies.
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Heh
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10-13-2011, 07:56 AM | #3 |
Space Cadet and Aczabel
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Cool deal
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Thanks, Trump for the civics lesson. We are learning so much about RICO, espionage, sedition, impeachment, the 25th Amendment, order of succession, nepotism, separation of powers, 1st Amendment, obstruction of justice, the emoluments clause, conflicts of interest, collusion, sanctions, oligarchs, money laundering and so much more. |
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10-13-2011, 07:59 AM | #4 |
WhatUneed2Hear
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"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" Peter 5:8 "Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay" Isaiah 29:16 "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Revelation 3:20 |
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10-13-2011, 08:39 AM | #5 |
Stuff & Things
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I'd think Uranus would break apart after getting hit so hard. It just shows how tough Uranus really is.
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10-13-2011, 08:54 AM | #6 |
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Uranus got pounded so much it became gassy?
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10-13-2011, 08:58 AM | #7 |
The Beast Inside Your Head
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10-13-2011, 09:08 AM | #8 |
Stuff & Things
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Doesn't Uranus always get gassy after it get's pounded?
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10-13-2011, 09:13 AM | #9 |
Manning, we're coming for you!
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I thought this was another Claythan thread. I was getting ready to warn people......
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10-13-2011, 09:14 AM | #10 |
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10-13-2011, 10:12 AM | #11 |
Needs more middle fingers
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Uranus was fun say in 1st grade. Still fun to this day.
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It's O'side or No side, baby. |
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10-13-2011, 10:18 AM | #12 |
Wearing ballistic dog goggles.
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Q: What does toilet paper have in common with the star ship Enterprise?
A: They both circle Uranus searching for Klingons. That’s all I got.
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Like "Cool Hand" Luke I'm busting rocks. __/|_/[___] |/ \\_| ---OllllO _( ))~-( ))-0--)) |
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10-13-2011, 10:25 AM | #13 |
Hey Loochy, I'm hooome!
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STUPID! Klingons aren't anywhere near Uranus! Their homeworld, Qo'noS, was first visited by Humans in 2151. It is about four days away from Sol at warp 4.5.
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10-13-2011, 12:49 PM | #14 |
....
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10-13-2011, 12:52 PM | #15 |
Needs more middle fingers
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****ing noobs don't know anything...
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It's O'side or No side, baby. |
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