© ESA/HubbleTwo views of Uranus.
A new paper performs a series of simulations on Uranus early in its history, taking note of what an early impact may have done to its rotation rate, atmosphere and internal structure. The impact could have left a clear signature still visible inside the planet we see today.
Uranus really is strange. Not only does it rotate on an axis that sits at a 98-degree angle to its orbital plane, but, unlike the other giant planets, it doesn't appear to release more heat than it receives from the Sun. Its magnetic field, too, appears warped compared to the Earth's.
An impact could perhaps help explain some of these strange traits.
Scientists have been simulating giant impacts into Uranus since the early 1990s, according to the new paper published in the Astrophysical Journal.
Comment: Although this appears to have been a man-made phenomenon, we can learn from it that dust particles in the atmosphere will turn rain into 'blood'. Which has happened before: