Searched ESV text for Near-infrared views of Uranus reveal its otherwise faint ring system, highlighting the extent to which it is tilted. Credit: Lawrence Sromovsky, (Univ. Wisconsin-Madison), Keck Observatory. Showing 0 of 0 results.
Posted on 10/10/2011 12:38:05 PM PDT by Red Badger
If Uranus was not tilted in one blow, as is commonly thought, but rather was bumped in at least two smaller collisions, there is a much higher probability of seeing its moons orbit in the direction we observe. By European Planetary Science Congress, AAS Division for Planetary Science —
Uranus’ highly tilted axis makes it something of an oddball in our solar system. The accepted wisdom is that Uranus was knocked on its side by a single large impact, but new research rewrites our theories of how Uranus became so tilted and also solves fresh mysteries about the position and orbits of its moons. By using simulations of planetary formation and collisions, it appears that early in its life Uranus experienced a succession of small punches instead of a single knock-out blow. This research has important ramifications on our theories of giant planet formation.
Uranus is unusual in that its spin axis is inclined by 98° compared to its orbital plane around the Sun. This is far more pronounced than other planets, such as Jupiter (3°), Earth (23°), or Saturn and Neptune (29°). Uranus is, in effect, spinning on its side.
The generally accepted theory is that in the past a body a few times more massive than Earth collided with Uranus, knocking the planet on its side. There is, however, one significant flaw in this notion: The moons of Uranus should have been left orbiting in their original angles, but they, too, lie at almost exactly 98°.
This long-standing mystery has been solved by an international team of scientists led by Alessandro Morbidelli from the Cote d’Azur Observatory in Nice, France.
Morbidelli and his team used simulations to reproduce various impact scenarios in order to ascertain the most likely cause of Uranus’ tilt. They discovered that if Uranus had been hit when still surrounded by a protoplanetary disk — the material from which the moons would form — then the disk would have reformed into a fat doughnut shape around the new, highly tilted equatorial plane. Collisions within the disk would have flattened the doughnut, which would then go onto form the moons in the positions we see today.
However, the simulation threw up an unexpected result: In the above scenario, the moons displayed retrograde motion — that is to say, they orbited in the opposite direction to that which we observe. Morbidelli’s group tweaked their parameters in order to explain this. The surprising discovery was that if Uranus was not tilted in one go, as is commonly thought, but rather was bumped in at least two smaller collisions, then there is a much higher probability of seeing the moons orbit in the direction we observe.
This research is at odds with current theories of how planets form, which may now need adjusting. “The standard planet formation theory assumes that Uranus, Neptune, and the cores of Jupiter and Saturn formed by accreting only small objects in the protoplanetary disk,” said Morbidelli. “They should have suffered no giant collisions. The fact that Uranus was hit at least twice suggests that significant impacts were typical in the formation of giant planets. So, the standard theory has to be revised.”
Searched ESV text for Near-infrared views of Uranus reveal its otherwise faint ring system, highlighting the extent to which it is tilted. Credit: Lawrence Sromovsky, (Univ. Wisconsin-Madison), Keck Observatory. Showing 0 of 0 results.
In before all the stupid ‘Uranus’ jokes! ;p
"knew a girl once who's bumps could break uranus"
PING
....circling uranus and looking for Kingons, Bump
Professor Hubert Farnsworth: “Astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all.”
Philip Fry: “Oh. What’s it called now?”
Professor Hubert Farnsworth: “Urectum”
What are things you never want to hear from a proctologist for $1,000.00, Alex.
Probably was a hip check from Whoopi or Rosie.
And the answer is: "Ju not only have rings around uranus, but ju also have a red spot on jupiter."
lol!!!
This article is going to make Barney Frank drool.
U hear more about a Uterus being tilted than Uranus....
I've driven down roads like that.
Back in my disco days, the bump had the same effect.
A doughnut around Uranus because it got hit?
I find myself hard press to GAS how Uranus started to tilt.
LOL that’s the first thing that came to mind.
That is one beautiful picture.
Uranus in a tizzy spewing out brown matter.
I love science and physics, but when they can successfully predict the weather tomorrow I will be more apt to believe their simulation correctly predicts the motion of this massive body a couple billion years ago. I will give them an A for trying because we should never stop trying to understand our universe and the role we play.
I’ve heard it pronounced “You-Rah-Noose”.
Like in “Uh, that’s `Frahnk-en-Steen’.”
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