A massive object devastated Uranus a long time ago and it never fully recovered.

galv

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
2,048
https://bgr.com/2018/07/03/uranus-collision-early-solar-system/
New research shows that Uranus, a chilly, hostile planet with a number of peculiar features, was the victim of a devastating impact during those early years, and it might explain some of the planet’s strange personality.

Uranus moves much differently than the other planets in our Solar System, spinning on its side in comparison to the rest of the worlds in our neighborhood. Astronomers have often wondered just how this happened, but simulations performed by scientists at Durham University’s Institute for Computational Cosmology might have finally produced the answer.
Something absolutely huge slammed into Uranus when it was still young, causing it to tilt dramatically and spin on its side. The impact would have to have been a glancing blow, rather than a head-on collision, but the contact was sufficient to change the direction the planet’s axis is pointing.

The researchers also believe that the collision might have helped produce the planet’s rings of dust and debris, and maybe even its moons. The incredible damage to Uranus and the mass of loose material that was produced by the crash would have coalesced into a ball, and the planet’s skewed magnetic field that we see today might be a result of non-uniform settling of the material around its core.
More at link. I think it's fascinating that we finally have answers as to why Uranus is so different from other planets in the solar system.
 
OP
OP
galv

galv

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
2,048
I think the massive object colliding with Uranus is similar to Earth's own history and it's crazy to think that these events are almost common place when thinking relatively to the age of the universe.
 

Omegasquash

Member
Oct 31, 2017
3,515
Didn't the same thing (supposedly) happen to Earth? Hit by something big, got all fucked up, tilted it, and we also got the Moon as a result?
 
Oct 26, 2017
12,072
Cthulu was prepared to take over the earth.

he wasn't prepared for....

Uranus.

now he's forever trapped in....

Uranus.
.
.
.
I'll let myself out
 

Eylos

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,047
"Something absolutely huge slammed into Uranus when it was still young, causing it to tilt dramatically and spin on its side."

incredible
 

Coyote Starrk

The Fallen
Oct 30, 2017
25,956
Jokes aside i have always found this to be one of the more fascinating stories of our solar system. Something big enough to knock an ice giant on its side, but not destroy it. I can't even imagine what that must have looked like.


Between this story, the migration of Jupiter, the impact theory, and the mystery of Sedna I wish I had the power to go back and watch this stuff happen in real time.
 

The Grizz

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,832
Threads like this is why I tune into ERA. Such a nice break from political posts. Thank you, OP, for posting this.
 

Bregor

Member
Oct 27, 2017
729
This is apparently fairly common - a large impact is the likely cause of the formation of our moon. Venus spins in the opposite direction one would expect, likely due to a massive impact early in the solar system's formation.

Simply put, rather than only one planet forming in a given orbital band, it seems like it is possible for more than one to form. This is never stable over the long run, however, and will always result in an impact or one of them being thrown into a very different orbit.

Too bad it didnt hit earth instead

Instead we have to suffer this mortal coil
It did. The rubble became our moon.