Weekly Planet Discussion: Uranus!

[Maji]

[spoiler=Disclaimer]I am no astronomer. merely a fan of space. If I say something dumb, incorrect, or outright out of this world [solar system], you reserve the right to call me out on it, so I can learn about proper shit and be smarter, cause that's what we all aim to do, right?

Awright, on to other planets, this week we are discussing:

General Riff-Raff

Uranus (if you're a prude, it can also be pronounced yer-rin-is or if you're a Sailormoonfag, ooh-rahn-is), the tilted, not so amused twin sister of Neptune! Uranus gets the title of being the very first planet to be discovered by telescope (by William Herschel), as well as the only planet in the solar system who has a symbol not god based. Instead, Uranus gets the "H" in Herschel's last name. The first thing one notices when seeing Uranus, is one, the awesome vertical rings, which I will discuss in depth later, as well as the bland feature, mixed with the turquoise hue, giving Uranus a very mellow look. Because Uranus is essentially Neptune in composition, I won't bother with the make up of the planet, rather jump right into why it's different from Neptune, and the theories surrounding why it is like that.

Myths n' Shit

If Uranus is exactly like Neptune, wouldn't there be speculated oceans as well? Actually, not really, Neptune has a core that can warm up its mantle, allowing for possible liquid in its mantle. Uranus's core, for some reason, emits little to no heat. As a result, this planet's internal structure would most likely be frozen ice of whatever it holds, diamonds, ammonia or water, truly perpetuating its "ice giant" title. Still, bringing home a giant ice diamond covered in clouds would still please the missus if you asked me..

Right, so why is the core dead? The most accepted idea is that being close to the Kuiper Belt, it was probably unfortunate enough to get slammed with something large millions of years ago, and whatever crashed into it hit it so hard that it knocked the planet on its side, as well as damaged the core well enough for it to no longer generate heat. Another myth as to why Uranus is on its side is perhaps there was a moon that existed that was very large, that it pulled it over on its side, and the core is indeed functional. If such is there case, where is the moon, did it manage to escape, is it the rings, or what? Furthermore, what of the mellow, but colder than Neptune weather, why is Uranus bland if the core exists? With such mysteries (weather in particular), most people just accept the fact that Uranus is without weather because the core is damaged.

The final myth as to why Uranus is cold and weatherless is look at all the other gas giants. Jupiter has 63 moons, four of them are massive moons that are 1/4th the size of Earth, and bigger than Luna, which is a pretty big moon in the long run. Saturnus has 62 moons, some are also very large, and Neptune has Triton, a class of its own. Uranus, on the other hand, while it does have 27 moons, none are large enough to create tidal friction, and without the friction, there is little heat. Its largest moon, Titania is just as big as Saturn's moon, Rhea, which isn't really that big on the grand scale of gas giant's moons. However, I do have a positive bias towards Uranus, as it's the only planet who doesn't follow the god theme 100%, in both its symbol and the fact that it's the only planet who's moons are named after Shakespeare characters, it takes balls to do that!

We're Invincible, Can Fly and Can Teleport, so Let's Look Around!

There's not really much to see in the planet itself, because of the lack of weather, however, it's interesting to note that there WERE reports of a dark spot, so while it does have occasional weather fits, none are as amazing as the ones seen on Neptune, nor is the wind anywhere close to Neptune, going for average 600 km/h. An interesting sight for Uranus bound tourists would be its moon, Miranda. Miranda through pictures, looks like a piece of paper that got crumpled up into a ball, scientists believe that it is like that because, much like Uranus, it got hit by a comet, blasted into shambles, but Uranus's gravity pulled it back together, which is why it looks so unstable and is abundant in canyons.

Other than that, one can swoon at the rings, which is a tell-tale sign that Uranus is on its side. While we're talking about its side, which point is the north, and which point is the south? There has been many debates about this.

Conclusion

I don't mind Uranus at all, anyone who is related to Neptune must be amazing themselves! It truly is a unique planet definitely worth seeing, if only for the calming turquoise, and upside down rings. Although Venus takes the extreme with the tilt, we'll have to wait until we discuss Venus.

And of course, you can't talk to me about the planets without me bringing up Gustav Holst!

Uranus, the Magician is my favourite movement in The Planets suite by the way, and I urge you all to listen to it. It's very moody in dynamics, much like the cold, but comet visited planet itself! The suspension in the middle of the piece, followed by the dissonant march, then to amazing chaos, then silence is my absolute favourite part ever.

Edited July 29, 2012 by Maji

[Esme]

Uranus is the atheist planet.

It is also my favorite planet.

Edited July 29, 2012 by Esme

[Phoenix Wright]

Uranus is too boring to be the best planet in the solar system. :P

[Zanarkin]

Uranus is okay but its not very interesting, seems rather dull and void of any activity.

[Bluedoom]

Dat Anus, srsly.

Nice rings, I wanna run on them.

[Phoenix Wright]

Dat Anus, srsly.

Nice rings, I wanna run on them.

It's too bad that even if you were to go to Uranus, you wouldn't be able to...

[Bluedoom]

Yeah that is sad man. :(

[Phoenix Wright]

Yeah that is sad man. :(

Well, if you want to literally run on its rings, you could try asteroid-hopping.

Edited July 29, 2012 by Phoenix Wright

[OrangeCrush980]

When are you going to do Pluto?

[Maji]

Uranus is okay but its not very interesting, seems rather dull and void of any activity.

I like Uranus a lot mainly due to the rings, it looks so scientific, or like some big futuristic gaudy laser discharger or something.

When are you going to do Pluto?

2015, when the New Horizons spacecraft finally takes pictures of it so I can post non pixely pictures of it

I'm thinking if I'm still up for it, and all the planets are covered, I might go do dwarf planets, comets and other fun chunks of things in our solar system. Maybe even other space-y things such as terraforming and exoplanets?

[Phoenix Wright]

I'm thinking if I'm still up for it, and all the planets are covered, I might go do dwarf planets, comets and other fun chunks of things in our solar system. Maybe even other space-y things such as terraforming and exoplanets?

My suggestion is to do a few of the cooler stars, then move on to some of the most popular extrasolar planets.

[Psych]

When I was your age, Pluto was still a planet! You whippersnappers....

I wonder how long it will be till they send a probe to Uranus.

[Ciarre]

Uranus has the best name.

Therefore, it's the best planet.

[Integrity]

Neptune is infinitely cooler than Uranus. Uranus is objectively the worst planet in the system except maybe Venus.

[Phoenix Wright]

Neptune is infinitely cooler than Uranus. Uranus is objectively the worst planet in the system except maybe Venus Mercury.

FTFY

[Maji]

FTFY

I actually agree with Venus < Mercury, Mercury has a pretty cool history, and interesting concepts in regards to the contents of its craters, which I will be certain to discuss thoroughly when it gets to Mercury. Venus on the other hand, although its form of precipitation is among the most interesting in the solar system, the volcanoes destroy any chances of it doing something cool, save slowly boiling itself away and doing nothing except for spewing lava all over itself over and over again, and fart CO₂ into the atmosphere non-stop. Granted, it has a geological edge over Mercury, Mercury triumphs with more interesting elements present on its planet, Venus has a large abundance of the same elements. Although I am most definitely open to discussion about Venus even though it's not Venus's turn, I've never met anyone who has a passion for the planet Venus, and I'd love to hear their standpoint! I'd imagine a person who likes Venus would be a geologist no doubt.

Edited July 30, 2012 by Maji

[tenkiforecast]

Geologically, Venus is the most interesting of the "Rocky" or non-gas planets outside of Earth. Its atmosphere is similar in dynamics to Earth's, but the composition makes all the difference.

Aside from using Venus as an example of the complete extreme of what can happen due to the "Greenhouse Effect" gone mad, I don't have as much to say about it. I do find Mercury pretty interesting though, it also has the added bonus of being highly affected by relativistic effects.

[Zanarkin]

I wonder how long it will be till they send a probe to Uranus.

I'd say there are far more interesting places to send a probe. Like Jupiter's moon Europa.

[tenkiforecast]

When I was your age, Pluto was still a planet! You whippersnappers....

I wonder how long it will be till they send a probe to Uranus.

"Scanning planet." *hits send probe* "Really, Commander?" *Hits send probe again* "(Sigh) Probing Uranus..."

Uranus Depleted.

And there is my Mass Effect reference for the day, thank you. *exits stage left before tomatoes*

[Maji]

I'd say there are far more interesting places to send a probe. Like Jupiter's moon Europa.

Enceladussss! Not just because it has a badass name, but also, like Europa, it has similar concepts, only more obvious about it, as in literally spewing it into space.

[Phoenix Wright]

I actually agree with Venus < Mercury, Mercury has a pretty cool history, and interesting concepts in regards to the contents of its craters, which I will be certain to discuss thoroughly when it gets to Mercury. Venus on the other hand, although its form of precipitation is among the most interesting in the solar system, the volcanoes destroy any chances of it doing something cool, save slowly boiling itself away and doing nothing except for spewing lava all over itself over and over again, and fart CO₂ into the atmosphere non-stop. Granted, it has a geological edge over Mercury, Mercury triumphs with more interesting elements present on its planet, Venus has a large abundance of the same elements. Although I am most definitely open to discussion about Venus even though it's not Venus's turn, I've never met anyone who has a passion for the planet Venus, and I'd love to hear their standpoint! I'd imagine a person who likes Venus would be a geologist no doubt.

All the planets have their own interesting histories. :P

It's PBS NOVA, so it's said very simply with little depth, but it's quite interesting (also, you were right about the geologist thing haha): http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/favorite-planet.html

Despite Chanover's argument, I still find Uranus pretty boring...but it's unique in its dullness.

Edited July 31, 2012 by Phoenix Wright

[Maji]

All the planets have their own interesting histories. :P

It's PBS NOVA, so it's said very simply with little depth, but it's quite interesting (also, you were right about the geologist thing haha): http://www.pbs.org/w...ite-planet.html

Despite Chanover's argument, I still find Uranus pretty boring...but it's unique in its dullness.

But Mercury has a more exciting history >__> (IMO)*

Oh hey, I haven't checked out that site, it was pretty cool to listen to professionals talk about their planets of study (I voted Neptune )

Although Uranus is not my favourite planet, nor my least favourite planet, I have to agree on what you said regarding Chanover, her last line in particular, "most fascinating places in our solar system" seems to be taking it a bit far. No doubt if a spacecraft were to fly by Uranus again, there might be minute changes to the weather, but nothing as fascinating as Neptune's weather.

I think another reason why most people do not like Uranus besides its bland appearance is the fact that it's the only gas giant in the solar system who does not have a moon with potential of life, or geological extravagance to it. This further makes it more boring, due to the fact that there's really nothing humans can do with the planet in the far future, save steal some gas from it, but Neptune is basically like Uranus, so I guess Uranus is semi-obsolete to a small extent?

*I'll try hard to cover Mercury and Venus as best as I can, so I don't accidentally give a bad bias towards Venus when it's its turn.