Did Something Massive Smash Into Uranus?

You might be aware of one of Uranus ’ complexities : It spins on its side , and its moons orbit on that same rotated plane . unexampled evidence strengthens the case that Uranus was smashed in a giant collision , resulting in its crabwise orientation to its orbital plane and perhaps excuse some of the planet ’s other mysteries .

A new paper performs a series of simulations on Uranus early in its account , drive banknote of what an other impact may have done to its rotation rate , air , and internal structure . The wallop could have leave a clear signature still visible inside the planet we see today .

Uranus really is strange . Not only does it rotate on an axis vertebra that sit at a 98 - degree angle to its orbital plane , but , unlike the other gargantuan planets , it does n’t come along to release more heat than it receive from the Sun . Its magnetic field , too , appears warped equate to the dry land ’s . An wallop could perhaps serve excuse some of these strange traits .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

scientist have been simulating giant impact into Uranus since the early nineties , according to thenew paperpublished in the Astrophysical Journal . This fourth dimension around , investigator built a new simulation with the newest and ripe available data of the planet ’s theme . This allow them to model how a giant impactor , perhaps one to three multiplication the mass of Earth , would have deposit “ stuff and energy inside Uranus ” and how much rubble would be leave over , from which moons could constitute .

“ This study provides some great novel insights into what might have happened all those one thousand million of days ago , with textile left over from the wallop peradventure even serving to pin down some of that heat inside , ” Leigh Fletcher , Royal Society Research Fellow at the University of Leicester who was not involve in the study tell Gizmodo .

But this is just a simulation , and like we always say : All models are flawed , but some are interesting . Models ca n’t tell us exactly what encounter ; it will take a lot more data to in full understand Uranus ’ narrative . “ Of naturally , what we really need next is an ambitious machinelike delegacy to search Uranus and its diverse satellite system , ” say Fletcher . “ Gravitational , atmospheric , and magnetic field chromosome mapping , follow what we ’ve done at Jupiter with Juno , and at Saturn with Cassini , could supply some new clues to better tighten up these exemplar , by unlocking the enigma of an ice giant interior for the first time . ”

William Duplessie