Astronomy | Uranus could be touched by a world twice as big as Earth | Trade | Technology and science | Science

Uranus, the seventh planet in the solar system, was struck by a massive object that was about twice the size of the Earth, which tipped it and could explain its freezing temperatures, a study published by the Astrophysical Journal.

Astronomers from the British University of Durham led an international team of experts who investigated how the tipping of Uranus occurred and the consequences that the gigantic impact might have had on the evolution of the planet. (You can access the Durham University press release by clicking HERE )

For this they made fifty hundred high resolution computer simulations of various types big collisions against the giant ice cream to try to discover how the planet has evolved.

— Collision of planets —

The investigations confirmed an earlier study, according to which, the inclined position of Uranus was caused by a collision with a massive object, possibly a young protoplaneta made of ice and rock during the formation of the solar system 4 billion years ago. The simulations also suggest that the remains of the impact could form a thin shell near the edge of the ice cap and thus trap the heat emanating from the heart of the planet.

Capturing this internal heat can, in part, help explain the planet's extremely cold outer atmosphere of 216 degrees below zero, according to the researchers.

The principal author of the study, Jacob Kegerreis of the University of Durham, reported that Uranus rotates laterally, with its axis pointing almost perpendicular to the rest of the planets of the Solar System .

"This was almost certainly caused by a gigantic impact", but "very little" is still known about how it actually happened and how this type of violent shock affected the planet, he added. a statement from the university

The results of the simulations "confirm that the most likely outcome was that the young Uranus was affected by a catastrophic collision that an object that he had twice the mass of the Earth, or even more, placing it on its side and unleashing the events that helped to create the planet we see today. "

The study could also explain the formation of the rings and Uranus moons. because the simulations suggest that the impact could project ice and rocks that were placed in orbit around the planet

Uranus is similar to the most common type of exoplanet and the authors hope their discoveries will explain how these planets from outside the solar system evolved and knows more about its chemical makeup.

Source: EFE