[ad_1]
The strange climate of Uranus and its unusual inclination could be explained by an impact with a huge object, according to new research. The collision could also be the reason why Uranus has come to have such freezing temperatures. And that could help us understand the mysterious exoplanets that are scattered throughout the universe and give hope to find extraterrestrial life.
[ad_2]
Most likely, the collision occurred about 4 billion years ago. Uranus probably hit a young proto-planet made of rock and ice, according to the researchers. The impact was probably only a glance, with the object hitting the side of Uranus and moving in space. This would explain how the impact was enough to rock the planet, but not enough to destroy its atmosphere.
"Uranus is spinning on its side, it was certainly caused by a giant impact, but we know very little about how it actually happened," said the lead author. Jacob Kegerreis, a researcher at the Institute of Computational Cosmology at the University of Durham.
Source link
