Why is Uranus titled sideways?
It's the only planet with a 90 degree tilt.
shareBecause Uranus likes it doggy style.
shareYES!
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MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Why is Uranus titled sideways?
The leading guess is that it was hit by a large body in the past that knocked it off its axis.
shareYeah, just like the Earth, which was hit in its infancy which tilted its axis to 23.5 degrees off vertical as well as giving us our moon.
This gives us our seasons with the added benefit that the gravity from our very large moon stabilized Earth's rotation around its axis.
And we all know how painful that can be.
shareSo does that mean it's possible sometime in the future that we could get hit by a celestial body and get knocked off our axis? π€ That would be trippy to witness.
shareLikely to have already happened. There wouldn't be much to witness though, it'd kill all large life pretty quickly.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant-impact_hypothesis
Back when the SOLAR SYSTEM was still forming there were lots of PROTO PLANETS roaming around that were bumping into each other like BUMPER CARS. That's how we got to be the BIG ROCKS that we are now (by the Accretion process -- where several smaller rocks kept colliding with each other -- until they became bigger rocks -- sort of like DUST BUNNIES under the bed would become bigger dust bunnies if you didn't clean them up).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynS3or1-xvM&t=3s
Teach Astronomy - Accretion
sometime in the future that we could get hit by a celestial body and get knocked off our axis?
But the GOOD NEWS is JUPITER also has so much MASS that it also protects us ROCKY planets by SUCKING UP any celestial bodies (like a big vacuum cleaner) before they can make their way further into the area where Earth is located.
As you may recall, it also ATE a comet recently that had broken up into several pieces prior to it's collision with JUPITER.
In other words, we've also got a GAS GIANT that usually can protect us from collisions.
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You seem to know quite about space & astronomy. I think space stuff is really cool. I often go on Youtube and listen to details about planets and the solar system.
That's an interesting tidbit about Jupiter. It's our "protector". Probably Saturn is the same way too.
I've seen lots of those UNIVERSE shows that they aired on the SCIENCE channel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_the_Universe_Works
Contents
1 Episode list
1.1 Season 1 (2010)
1.2 Season 2 (2012)
1.3 Season 3 (2014)
1.4 Season 4 (2015)
1.5 Season 5 (2016β17)
1.6 Season 6 (2018)
1.7 Season 7 (2019)
1.8 Season 8 (2020)
1.9 Season 9 (2021)
Plus (the former rocker turned professor) BRIAN COX also had other programs about the SOLAR SYSTEM and THE UNIVERSE:
https://www.amazon.com/Wonders-Universe-Brian-Cox/dp/0062110543
and another one called "Can we make a STAR on EARTH."
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xoi5c5
Excerpt from the BBC Horizon documentary "Can we make a star on Earth" Prof Brian Cox discusses what it would take to share the world's energy needs to all the people and also have it be from a renewable source.
They really do have some fascinating stuff to watch.
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As you may recall, it also ATE a comet recently that had broken up into several pieces prior to it's collision with JUPITER.
I remember that. It was fascinating watching that comet hitting Jupiter. share
Yeah and that explosion on JUPITER was so HUGE that if that comet had hit the EARTH there would definitely not be any life left now (except for maybe the roaches who also survived the other bombardment that killed off the dinosaurs 65 million yrs ago).
shareMainly for the same reason as Venus is tilted by 180 degrees: We don't really know :)
There are impact theories for both of them ...
"Your moon is in Uranus."
Now, that must be painful! π²