# Uranus takes a pounding more frequently than thought



## Jcgrey (Feb 5, 2011)

> Uranus isn't just gassy, it's also tilted completely sideways, such that instead of rotating like a spinning top, it rolls around the plane of the solar system more like a giant ball. Now astronomers think they know how this happened, and it means that Uranus has been pounded really, really hard not once, but twice.
> 
> Uranus' axial tilt of 98 degrees means that it's got one pole pointed almost directly at the sun, and one pole pointed out into space. As the planet revolves around the sun, these poles slowly switch places, meaning that if you lived there, you'd get 42 years of sunlight followed by 42 years of darkness, with a short time in between where things would seem almost normal.
> 
> ...


More: http://dvice.com/archives/2011/10/we-now-know-why.php


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## Samtrix (Aug 22, 2011)

That title reminds me of a Betty White quote. :haha
Sorry for being so immature, it is an interesting article, although I don't know nearly enough about astronomy to make an intelligent comment. Thanks for sharing.


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

Samtrix said:


> That title reminds me of a Betty White quote. :haha
> Sorry for being so immature, it is an interesting article, although I don't know nearly enough about astronomy to make an intelligent comment. Thanks for sharing.


Well, what was the quote? :lol


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

I have to say that the collisions look pretty all glowing like that .
It has a tilt of 98 degrees, huh? Nick Lachey would be pretty popular there, then. :lol


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## Samtrix (Aug 22, 2011)

I didn't put it since I wasn't sure it was appropriate, but since you're a mod, feel free to delete it if necessary. I just looked it up, it actually wasn't Betty White who said it, it was Sheng Wang (whoever that is).

Why do people say "grow some balls". Balls are weak and sensitive. If you really wanna get tough, grow a vagina, those things take a pounding.


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## Jcgrey (Feb 5, 2011)

Goodness. Why couldn't this article have been about Neptune instead. lol After reading the article again, It kinda seems like the author had a bit of fun writing it. 

Still interesting nonetheless.


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## Samtrix (Aug 22, 2011)

My mind is in the gutter sometimes, but I did avoid saying anything to "uranus isn't just gassy". :yes

So, if the moon was formed from a chunk of the earth, how is it round? Pressure over several million years?


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## ShyGuy86 (Sep 17, 2011)

Jcgrey said:


> lol After reading the article again, It kinda seems like the author had a bit of fun writing it.


Hehe. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that. I was feeling rather immature for laughing!

Anyway, I've always been fascinated by how the _7th planet_ "rolled" (although it doesn't exaclty roll all the time, it's more like it alternates between rolling with- and rolling away from the orbit) on the plane of the solar system instead of "spinning". It's interesting to get some insight into that.


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## Jcgrey (Feb 5, 2011)

* Axial tilt*

Uranus has an axial tilt of 97.77 degrees, so its axis of rotation is approximately parallel with the plane of the Solar System. This gives it seasonal changes completely unlike those of the other major planets. Other planets can be visualized to rotate like tilted spinning tops on the plane of the Solar System, while Uranus rotates more like a tilted rolling ball. Near the time of Uranian solstices, one pole faces the Sun continuously while the other pole faces away. Only a narrow strip around the equator experiences a rapid day-night cycle, but with the Sun very low over the horizon as in the Earth's polar regions. At the other side of Uranus's orbit the orientation of the poles towards the Sun is reversed. Each pole gets around 42 years of continuous sunlight, followed by 42 years of darkness.[49] Near the time of the equinoxes, the Sun faces the equator of Uranus giving a period of day-night cycles similar to those seen on most of the other planets. Uranus reached its most recent equinox on December 7, 2007.[50][51]


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## ShyGuy86 (Sep 17, 2011)

^ yup, during the equinoxes, it would appear like the _7th planet_ were trying to roll away from, or towards the Sun. Instead, during the solstices it would appear is if it were rolling *with* the orbit, like a lollipop rolling on its side, with the stick connecting it to the Sun.
And all the possible combinations in-between.


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## CeilingStarer (Dec 29, 2009)

I lolled at the title too.


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## Witan (Jun 13, 2009)

Samtrix said:


> I didn't put it since I wasn't sure it was appropriate, but since you're a mod, feel free to delete it if necessary. I just looked it up, it actually wasn't Betty White who said it, it was Sheng Wang (whoever that is).
> 
> Why do people say "grow some balls". Balls are weak and sensitive. *If you really wanna get tough, grow a vagina, those things take a pounding.*


I'm not even gonna try to say what thoughts went through my head when I read that....


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## angus (Dec 18, 2010)

:clap:rofl:boogie:eyes:high5:haha:thanks TOO FUNNY!!!


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## Diacetylmorphine (Mar 9, 2011)

I laughed.


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## Cynical (Aug 23, 2011)

Samtrix said:


> That title reminds me of a Betty White quote. :haha
> Sorry for being so immature, it is an interesting article, although I don't know nearly enough about astronomy to make an intelligent comment. Thanks for sharing.


You know that's the first thing that came to my mind as well.

and nice title op.


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## Jcgrey (Feb 5, 2011)

That's the actual title of the article, not mine. But yes I did get a chuckle over it.


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## Jcgrey (Feb 5, 2011)

Ah what the heck. Let the Uranus jokes go on: http://www.nottriangles.com/blog/uranus.html


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## Samtrix (Aug 22, 2011)

"The scientific term, 'Uranus' bleeding,' refers to the one week in the year when a visible red streak follows Uranus' path."

^ I learned something new today!


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## Jcgrey (Feb 5, 2011)

Samtrix said:


> So, if the moon was formed from a chunk of the earth, how is it round? Pressure over several million years?


Just a cut from Wikki.



> Main article: Giant impact hypothesis
> 
> Several mechanisms have been proposed for the Moon's formation 4.527 ± 0.010 billion years ago, some 30-50 million years after the origin of the Solar System.These include the fission of the Moon from the Earth's crust through, which would require too great an initial spin of the Earth, the gravitational capture of a pre-formed Moon, which would require an unfeasibly extended atmosphere of the Earth to dissipate the energy of the passing Moon,and the co-formation of the Earth and the Moon together in the primordial accretion disk, which does not explain the depletion of metallic iron in the Moon.These hypotheses also cannot account for the high angular momentum of the Earth-Moon system.
> 
> ...


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## rgrwng (Aug 25, 2011)

I snorted really loud before clicking into this thread. is that bad?

anyways, that planet is skewed - or is the rest of our system weird for thinking that planet is skewed? Uranus is special, indeed.


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## libertad (Apr 12, 2011)

Jcgrey said:


> Ah what the heck. Let the Uranus jokes go on: http://www.nottriangles.com/blog/uranus.html


hahah amen to that


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