Consider the possibility that Uranus Crashed into Earth.

It has been exactly 30 days since Uranus first appeared overhead, initially mistaken for a newfound celestial companion to our moon. However, it soon became evident that something much more significant was unfolding. What triggered Uranus's sudden volatility, and how might this mythical collision transform the ice giant? Oh, and that dreadful smell... What if Uranus were to collide with Earth?

Let's rewind 30 days to a time when things were still normal. Uranus led a peaceful existence on the outskirts of our local planetary system, approximately 3 billion kilometers away. Then, without warning, it began to approach. Astronomers sounded the alarm as it veered off its expected trajectory. According to their calculations, Uranus would take 13 years to reach the collision point, giving us a narrow window to evacuate Earth. However, the frigid behemoth had other plans.

This wouldn't be an ordinary planetary encounter. Planets don't simply deviate from their orbits without cause, yet Uranus did just that. It accelerated, hurtling through the planetary neighborhood at speeds nearing 1,000 kilometers per second. With this sudden velocity, we'd have only about 30 days left on our doomed planet.

Uranus would gleam overhead like a brilliant blue star, growing larger and brighter with each passing day. Our skies would dazzle not only from the icy giant's radiance but also from the onslaught of meteorites. However, these wouldn't be twinkling stars; they'd be harbingers of destruction.

To reach Earth's orbit, Uranus would have to navigate through the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars, disturbing the orbits of countless asteroids, some as massive as 240 kilometers in diameter—several times larger than the one responsible for wiping out the dinosaurs eons ago. With nowhere to escape, we'd be left to witness the apocalypse unfold.

As Uranus approached, it would appear similar in size to the moon but rapidly expanding. While humanity faced its demise, Uranus's gravitational pull would wreak havoc. Volcanoes would erupt violently, earthquakes would ravage the planet, and the stench... Oh, the smell! Uranus's upper atmosphere is predominantly composed of hydrogen sulfide, akin to the odor of rotten eggs but on a planetary scale—a nauseating prospect indeed.

Accompanied by its 27 moons, Uranus would bring chaos from all sides. As a final act of flatulent fury, it would strip away Earth's atmosphere, igniting temperatures to transform our once vibrant world into another lifeless moon orbiting the ice giant.

However, Uranus wouldn't emerge unscathed. In its previous collision with a planetary object twice Earth's size, it was knocked off its axis, earning its distinction as the only planet in our solar system to rotate on its side. This collision might realign it, but for Earth, it would spell the end.

Should life somehow persist amid Earth's putrid remnants, Uranus would loom in the sky, a reminder of our cataclysmic fate. Our planet, reduced to a mere satellite of the ice giant, would forever bear witness to the folly of cosmic collision.

But what if...

In ancient times, people gazed upon the night sky and marveled at the realms of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. However, beyond this realm of knowledge, another world shone brightly, awaiting discovery. Uranus, the seventh planet from the Sun, lies at a distance of approximately 20 astronomical units, or about 20 times the distance between Earth and the Sun. It completes an orbit around the Sun once every 84 Earth years, roughly equivalent to a human's entire lifetime. This lengthy orbit results in each season on Uranus lasting for about 21 Earth years.

Partly due to its distance from the Sun, Uranus boasts the coldest temperatures in the solar system. Temperatures plummet to as low as a bone-chilling -370 degrees Fahrenheit, largely influenced by the planet's composition. With a diameter roughly four times that of Earth, Uranus has an Earth-sized core composed of iron and magnesium silicate. The remaining 80% of Uranus is a vast expanse of ices, including water, ammonia, and methane, which gives the planet its distinctive cool blue hue. This icy composition limits Uranus's ability to radiate heat compared to other planets, earning it the title of the coldest planet in the solar system.

In addition to its extreme temperatures and orbit, Uranus possesses a unique axial tilt. While the other seven planets spin on their axes akin to spinning tops, Uranus appears to roll along its equator. The planet is tilted at an almost right angle, causing its polar regions to alternately face toward and away from the Sun, rather than tilting up and down. This tilt, believed to be the result of Uranus's collision with at least one celestial body, has also influenced the alignment of Uranus's 13 rings and 27 known moons. Unlike the rings and moons of other worlds, which orbit their host planets horizontally, those of Uranus orbit in a vertical direction along the planet's tilted equator, resembling the motion of a Ferris wheel.

The many peculiarities of Uranus remained a mystery to ancient civilizations, who initially mistook the planet for a star. However, in the late eighteenth century, astronomer William Herschel discovered that the celestial object was, in fact, a new planet. Esteemed scholars debated over what to name the planet, ultimately selecting a name proposed by astronomer Johann Elert Bode. Bode suggested that since Jupiter was considered the father of the gods, and Saturn the father of Jupiter, this new planet should be deemed the father of Saturn, Caelus. Departing from the tradition of using names from ancient Roman religion, Bode opted for Caelus's Greek counterpart, Ouranos. Ouranos, the ancient Greek sky god, was then Latinized to become Uranus. To this day, Uranus remains the only planet to defy convention with an ancient Greek namesake, a distinction befitting a planet beyond convention.