The collision is believed to have taken place during the formation of the solar system about four billion years ago. According to the simulation, debris from the proto-planet probably forms a thin shell near the edge of the ice layer on the outside of Uranus - trapping the heat at its core.
Uranus likely got whacked by a body one to three times as massive as the modern Earth. The impactor that knocked Uranus on its side long ago isn't quite so mysterious anymore.
The seventh planet from the Sun, Uranus has the third-largest planetary radius, and scientists believe that around four billion years ago it was hit by a huge object, likely made of rock and ice.
The conventional thinking holds that soon after the solar system formed, Uranus was knocked on its side by a series of collisions with some of the numerous planetesimals that swept through the region at that time.
The widely accepted theory for how Uranus got knocked over is that a rogue Earth-size planet slammed into the ice giant billions of years ago.
Theia is a hypothesized ancient planet in the early Solar System that, according to the giant-impact hypothesis, collided with the early Earth around 4.5 billion years ago, with some of the resulting ejected debris gathering to form the Moon.
In Hesiod they are three giants, each with a hundred arms and fifty hands, sons of Uranus and Gaea. Their names are Briareus, Cottus, and Gyes. Owing to their hostile attitude to him, their father kept them imprisoned in the bowels of the earth.
Saturn is tilted after one of its moons crashed into it, a new study has suggested.
Talk about a big bang. A "cataclysmic" collision some 4 billion years ago between Uranus and another massive object forever changed the evolution of the giant planet, a new study suggests.
Notes: The sixth planet from the sun, Uranus appeared to pass directly behind Earth's moon, going out of sight for three and a half hours. The disappearing act is also known as the lunar occultation of Uranus.
Four billion years ago, scientists believe a young proto-planet of rock and ice collided with Uranus, causing its extreme tilt. Instead of rotating like a top spinning nearly upright, as Earth does, the planet “rolls” on its side as it circles the sun.
If the planets remain in their current orbits, no. It's true that Pluto's elongated orbit carries it closer to the Sun than Neptune, and then farther away from the Sun than Neptune. However, crossing orbits does not imply these planets will collide.
The YDIH posits that fragments of a large (more than 4 kilometers in diameter), disintegrating asteroid or comet struck North America, South America, Europe, and western Asia around 12,850 years ago, coinciding with the beginning of the Younger Dryas cooling event.
Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune:
As with Jupiter, you'd descend into these gas giants and ultimately be crushed by the pressure. Nope, not even the rings of Saturn would provide you with a stable surface to walk on. Bummer.
Uranus, the 7th planet out from the Sun was discovered accidentally in 1781 when William Herschel was trying out the 7" telescope that he had built. It is barely visible to the naked eye, but through a telescope it looks like a blue-green disc.
The most famous and destructive impact took place 65 million years ago when a 6-mile (10-km) diameter asteroid crashed into what is now the Yucatán Peninsula. It wiped out most plant and animal species on Earth, including the dinosaurs. But smaller objects can also cause significant damage.
Accordingly, we only experience a Uranus return once in our lifetime, around the age of 81. Uranus last cruised through Taurus from 1934 through 1942, so those born during that time are experiencing their Uranus return.
At least 200,000 years ago – recent enough that the carbon monoxide would not have had time to have broken down – an Earth-sized rocky planet was smacked by a smaller body at a velocity of 10 kilometers per second (over 22,000 miles per hour).
Although orbital dynamics make it highly unlikely that two gas giants would collide, there's a small chance that such an impact could happen during the formation of a planetary system. The result of a collision mainly depends on the speed and angle of impact.
Saturn now has over 100 known moons - more than any other planet.
About Jupiter's Moons
By most counts, Jupiter has between 80 and 95 moons, but neither number captures the complexity of the Jovian system of moons, rings and asteroids. The giant planet commands thousands of small objects in its orbit.
The moons of Saturn are numerous and diverse, ranging from tiny moonlets only tens of meters across to the enormous Titan, which is larger than the planet Mercury.
Uranus is the sky god and first ruler. He is the son of Gaea, who created him without help. He then became the husband of Gaea and together they had many offspring, including twelve of the Titans.
Then, according to the Theogony, Uranus mated with Gaia, and she gave birth to the twelve Titans: Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Tethys and Cronus; the Cyclopes: Brontes, Steropes and Arges; and the Hecatoncheires ("Hundred-Handed Ones"): Cottus, Briareus, and Gyges.
Uranus hated his offspring and hid them in Gaea's body. She appealed to them for vengeance, but Cronus (a Titan) alone responded. With the harpē (a scimitar) he removed Uranus' testicles as he approached Gaea.