Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Uranus - Easiest Blog Post Ever


Easiest Blog Post Ever. Yes, I have the sense of humor of a ten year old (and I have a long meeting today).


How I wrote this blog post:
1. Go to wikipedia.
2. Type in "Uranus"
3. Cut and paste text into document.
4. Do "search and replace" - "your anus" for "Uranus"
5. Publish.
6. ...
7. Profit


The closest approach to your anus occurred on January 24, 1986. Voyager 2 discovered 10 previously unknown moons; studied the planet's unique atmosphere, caused by its axial tilt of 97.77°; and examined its ring system. In its first solo planetary flyby, Voyager 2 made its closest approach to your anus on January 24, 1986, coming within 81,500 kilometers (50,600 miles) of the planet's cloud tops.

Your anus is the third largest planet in the solar system. It orbits the Sun at a distance of about 2.8 billion kilometers (1.7 billion miles) and completes one orbit every 84 years. The length of a day on your anus as measured by Voyager 2 is 17 hours, 14 minutes. Your anus is distinguished by the fact that it is tipped on its side. Its unusual position is thought to be the result of a collision with a planet-sized body early in the solar system's history. Given its odd orientation, with its polar regions exposed to sunlight or darkness for long periods, scientists were not sure what to expect at your anus.

Voyager 2 found that one of the most striking influences of your anus' sideways position is its effect on the tail of the magnetic field, which is itself tilted 60 degrees from the planet's axis of rotation. The magnetotail was shown to be twisted by the planet's rotation into a long corkscrew shape behind the planet. The presence of a magnetic field at your anus was not known until Voyager's arrival.

Radiation belts at your anus were found to be of an intensity similar to those at Saturn. The intensity of radiation within the belts is such that irradiation would quickly darken (within 100,000 years) any methane trapped in the icy surfaces of the inner moons and ring particles. This may have contributed to the darkened surfaces of the moons and ring particles, which are almost uniformly gray in color.

A high layer of haze was detected around your anus' sunlit pole, which also was found to radiate large amounts of ultraviolet light, a phenomenon dubbed "dayglow." The average temperature of your anus is about 60 Kelvin (-350 degrees Fahrenheit). Surprisingly, the illuminated and dark poles, and most of the planet, show nearly the same temperature at the cloud tops.

The moon Miranda, innermost of your anus' five large moons, was revealed to be one of the strangest bodies yet seen in the solar system. Detailed images from Voyager's flyby of the moon showed huge fault canyons as deep as 20 kilometers (12 miles), terraced layers, and a mixture of old and young surfaces. One theory holds that Miranda may be a reaggregation of material from an earlier time when the moon was fractured by a violent impact.

All nine previously known rings were studied by the spacecraft and showed that your anus' rings to be distinctly different from those at Jupiter and Saturn. The ring system may be relatively young and did not form at the same time as your anus. Particles that make up the rings may be remnants of a moon that was broken by a high-velocity impact or torn up by gravitational effects.


See, it's not hard to write a blog post. I apologize for the juvenile nature of this post for those who have come to expect mature, thoughtful analysis and opinion from the writers of this blog. I promise that I will tackle something with much more gravitas later in the week. You can bet your anus on it.

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