Something Twice the Size of Earth Slammed into Uranus and Knocked It Over (2018) • Hacker News Board

Re: Something Twice the Size of Earth Slammed into Uranus and Knocked It Over (2018)

#11

Post by 3R3130R » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 11:35 PM UTC

if something is rotating clockwise with respect to surroundings. let us say, and we were to then turn the object 180 degrees in a plane perpendicular to its rotation, the result is an object that is now rotating COUNTERCLOCKWISE with respect to its surroundings.

In summary, an impact with a another rotating object and transfer of momentum is not the only way. the object could have undergone a pole flip.

Re: Something Twice the Size of Earth Slammed into Uranus and Knocked It Over (2018)

#12

Post by sunnyP » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 11:47 PM UTC

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #4

I've been alive for many, many decades. I wish I could say I've matured past Uranus double entendres, but I haven't.

You're not the only one.

Re: Something Twice the Size of Earth Slammed into Uranus and Knocked It Over (2018)

#13

Post by Roboprog » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 12:03 AM UTC

notacoward wrote: post #9

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #4

I've been alive for many, many decades. I wish I could say I've matured past Uranus double entendres, but I haven't.

I will freely admit that I had the same reaction to the headline. Ow! I think I'd remember something like that. #forever12

Title is a bit click-bait-y :-)

Re: Something Twice the Size of Earth Slammed into Uranus and Knocked It Over (2018)

#14

Post by staticautomatic » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 3:33 AM UTC

In theory, would it be possible to look for the object by looking in the direction predicted by the model?

Re: Something Twice the Size of Earth Slammed into Uranus and Knocked It Over (2018)

#15

Post by kristianp » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 4:18 AM UTC

8bitsrule wrote: post #7

The simulation suggests it could have happened that way. That doesn't translate well into that headline. (Given the domain name, a person might hope for better.) Impact hypotheses are a popular type of explanation. Some may survive actual exposure to evidence, and eventually become theories. This is quite an old idea (as is the idea that the Moon impacted the Earth); maybe one day it'll pan out. Until then, it'd be g…

How is evidence going to materialize for a gas planet like Uranus?

Re: Something Twice the Size of Earth Slammed into Uranus and Knocked It Over (2018)

#16

Post by mercer » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 1:54 PM UTC

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #4

I've been alive for many, many decades. I wish I could say I've matured past Uranus double entendres, but I haven't.

Farnsworth: I'm sorry, Fry, but astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all..

Fry: Oh. What's it called now?

Farnsworth: Urectum.

Re: Something Twice the Size of Earth Slammed into Uranus and Knocked It Over (2018)

#17

Post by perl4ever » Thu, Jan 10, 2019, 2:35 AM UTC

8bitsrule wrote: post #7

The simulation suggests it could have happened that way. That doesn't translate well into that headline. (Given the domain name, a person might hope for better.) Impact hypotheses are a popular type of explanation. Some may survive actual exposure to evidence, and eventually become theories. This is quite an old idea (as is the idea that the Moon impacted the Earth); maybe one day it'll pan out. Until then, it'd be g…

If the Moon impacted the Earth, why do both appear to still be here?