Uranus could have been hit by an object around twice the size of earth.New research looking at why the plant has a strange tilt, led by Jacob Kegerreis, PhD researcher at Durham University, shows that it could have been hit by an object made of rock or ice around four billion years ago.Experts from the university, writing in the Astrophysical Journal, used 50 different impact scenarios to make the discovery, which also found that debris from the impact has been acting like a thermal shield for the planet ever since – hence why it has a cold outer atmosphere.Mr Kegerreis said: “Uranus spins on its side, with its axis pointing almost at right angles to those of all the other planets in the Solar System.“This was almost certainly caused by a.
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