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A young protoplanet twice as large as Earth could have hit Uranus during the formation of the solar system about 4 billion years ago. The collision can help explain the odd tilt of the gas giant, as well as illuminate other features of the planet. (19459013) NASA / JPL-Caltech )
A young Uranus was hit by a large object about twice the size of the Earth in the early days of the solar system, revealed the results of a new study. [19659003] The collision could also help to explain the characteristics of the planet, which include a strange inclination and icy temperatures.
Uranus struck by young protoplanet twice the size of the planet Earth
In the new study published in The Astrophysical Journal Jacob Kegerreis, of the Institute of Computational Cosmology of 39; University of Durham, and his colleagues used a high power supercomputer to simulate different impact scenarios that would recreate the conditions that shaped the evolution of Uranus
. According to a previous study, the ice giant's slanted position was due to a collision with a massive object while the solar system was forming about 4 billion years ago. The object was perhaps a young protoplanet about twice as massive as Earth and made of rocks and ice
"The young Uranus was involved in a cataclysmic collision with an object twice as big as the Earth, for its part, and putting in place the events that helped to create the planet we see today, "Kegerreis said in a statement
Other Effects of Collision
computer simulations have also suggested that the shell impactor debris near the edge of the ice sheet of Uranus, and trap the heat of the heart of the planet. The trapping of internal heat can help explain the extremely cold temperature of the ice giant's outdoor atmosphere, which scientists estimate to be about -357 degrees Fahrenheit
"Most of the rock core material of the impactor falls into the target's core. " the researchers wrote in their study published July 2. "However, for higher momentum impacts, significant amounts anisotropically incrustate like pieces in the ice sheet."
The results also provide an explanation for the formation of Uranus rings . the moons. The simulations suggest that the impact could have thrown rock and ice into orbit around the planet. This debris of rocks and ice could then have formed clusters that would become the planet's internal satellites and could eventually modify the rotation of moons already in orbit around the planet.
Computer simulations also showed that the event resulted in the formation of melted ice. and pieces of rock inside the planet, which could explain the inclined magnetic field and off center of Uranus.
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