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Our solar system is a rather quiet place these days, all things considered, but it was not always the case. At the time the planets were still forming, collisions between various large bodies were common, and they ultimately helped shape the system we see today. A new study shows that Uranus, a hostile and cold planet with a number of peculiar features, has been the victim of a devastating impact during these early years, and this could explain a part of it. strange personality of the planet
. of other planets in our solar system, turning on its side compared to the rest of the worlds of our neighborhood. Astronomers have often wondered how this was happening, but simulations done by scientists from the Institute of Computational Cosmology at Durham University finally gave the answer.
"We used more than 50 different impact scenarios – we could recreate the conditions that shaped the evolution of the planet," says Jacob Kegerreis, lead author. "Our results confirm that the result the most likely was that the young Uranus was involved in a cataclysmic collision with an object twice as large as the mass of the Earth, putting him at his side and starting the events that helped to create the planet. we see today. "
Something absolutely huge slammed into Uranus when he was still young, causing him to rock dramatically and turn sideways.The impact should have been a blow from Rather than a frontal collision, but the contact was enough to change the direction of the planet's axis.
The researchers also believe that the collision could have helped produce the planet. rings of dust and debris, and perhaps even its moons The incredible damage to Uranus and the mass of loose materials produced by the accident would have condensed into a ball, and the asymmetrical magnetic field of the planet that we see today could be the result of non-uniform sedimentation of the material around its nucleus.
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