Uranus is Odd

Uranus is an odd planet, partly because we are all juvenile at heart and chuckle at its name. Yes, I may be 40 years old, but Uranus jokes are still fair game! Uranus is odd because it is tipped over on its side. Every planet has what is defined as an orbital tilt. Earth, for example, has an orbital tilt of 23.5 degrees. Venus has a tilt of 3 degrees but rotates in the opposite direction. Most of the planets have a relatively small orbital tilt, except for Uranus. Uranus has a tilt of 82 degrees, meaning it is nearly tipped over on its side.

NASA Hubble / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

Why is Uranus titled onto its side? The most likely explanation is an impact with a large object early on in the formation of the Solar System. This is difficult to determine, however, because the evidence for that collision is long gone. Astronomers in Japan have recently modeled the tilt of Uranus and determined it is consistent with an impact by an object one to three times the size of Earth. That's a pretty large impact! For more details on this, the link to the article is below.

Origins of Uranus' oddities explained by Japanese astronomers

It's cool when the power of science helps provide evidence for events that took place 4.5 billion years ago!!!