# All Questions

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### From what distance can one object influence gravity of another object?

Each object in the universe has its own gravitational influence on all other objects in the universe. What distance do they have to be from each other to create only one gravitational influence? ...
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### Where is the center point for the Supergalactic coordinate system?

Im trying to build a 3D visualization of the Supergalactic coordinate system and couldnt find any reference to where the center point should be (sun, galactic center, earth, etc). Also I already ...
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### Strong force and metric expansion

If the expansion of the universe (the metric) continues (and perhaps is accelerating), in a very large but finite time the expansion of the metric will clash with the effects of the strong nuclear ...
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### Where did this famous Planetary Precession Formula come from?

The following equation (which I shall term the Planetary Precession Formula, PPF for short) famously appeared in a 1915 publication by Einstein where he indicated how it could be derived from his ...
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### Given a date obtain latitude and longitude where is the sun zenith

Searching is easy to find terminator line (frontier between day and night) or the position of the sun in the sky given a position on the earth and a time; but I can't find how to obtain where is the ...
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### Is a Wormhole a tunnel? [closed]

In films such as Interstellar, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Contact (and also Star Trek Deep Space Nine) wormholes are depicted as tunnels along the edges of which fantastical colours and shapes lie. ...
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### How is the universe bordered?

This answer says that some models describes the universe as finite. How do those models describe the universe's border? Does the border (theoretically) exist? Is it a solid border? Do they predict ...
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### Instrumental magnitude to “real” magnitude - Photometry with not enough data?

I have a lot of data taken in R, B, V, Luminance and Halpha-bands which I want to analyse photometrically (one target in the frame). The frames are already reduced (with flats, darks etc.) and have a ...
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### What should I look for in an astronomy tripod?

I have a Celstron SkyMaster 20x80 binoculars, and a tripod — Vanguard 263AT with a SBH-100 head. The binoculars weighs 2.2kg, while the head is rated to a loading capacity of 10kg, and the legs to a ...
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### Number density of stars on the Galactic plane

The number density of stars (e.g. the number of stars per cubic parsec) is given by $$N(z) = N(0) e^{-|z|/h}$$ where $z$ is the height above the Galactic plane, $h$ is the scale height for a specific ...
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### Can General Relativity indicate phase-dependent variations in planetary orbital acceleration?

In a previous question about differences in Newtonian and GTR gravitional force for the case of star-planet gravitational interactions an approximate relationship was noted between the expressions for ...
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### At what density does helium burning start in a star?

I have seen several references that say that helium burning begins in a star once the core temperature reaches $10^8$K (such as here) but nowhere that says what density that corresponds to. Does ...
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### How many observations does it take to determine the orbit of a TNO

Several observations of a distant solar object must be taken before determining its orbit, but in the case of objects discovered beyond Neptune's orbit, just how many are required over what period of ...
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### VSOP for exosatellites? (Io, Titan, Ariel, etc)

VSOP87 (and the subsequent VSOP2000 and VSOP2013) provide reasonably accurate planetary positions while still maintaining a small file size compared to the Chebyshev polynomial files. VSOP ...
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### What is the degree of ionization is the solar photosphere?

I am wondering how many free electrons per baryon and how many free electrons per atom there are in the solar photosphere. This number depends on the abundances of the various atoms found in the ...
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### How deep and shaped is the depth of a black hole?

A common representation of a black hole is a black circle which if I'm correct, indicates its breadth. This representation depicts it as a 'plate', so a really small depth compared to its breadth. ...
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### How bright are the outer planets, when at close range?

Seven probes have passed by or orbited outer planets. I wonder how their photos differ from the naked eye view one would have if one were actually there. Saturn is 10 AU from the Sun, which means ...
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### Explanation for the mathematics behind Venus' retrograde motion

I've always been interested by the pattern within Venus' orbit around the sun. I found this image and formula of its retrograde motion in the upper right hand corner which confused me. What does it ...
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### Which stars did the Sun form with?

The Sun formed 4.5 billion years ago, in a molecular cloud. I assume that there were other stars in the vicinity (as is common in molecular clouds). Which stars are they? Where are they now? Are they ...
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### Could supermassive black holes form in dwarf galaxies?

Supermassive black holes often exist in large galaxies (e.g. the Milky Way, Andromeda). They make up a fair portion of the galaxy's mass. Is it possible for a supermassive black hole to form in a ...
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### How do we know the big bang expanded space and not the other way around?

Whenever we hear an explanation about the big bang, it is always phrased in such a way that it was an explosion which used some kind of pressure to expanded the universe out. I wonder, however, would ...
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### Why did the big bang not just produce a big black hole?

Questions I've often wondered about: 1) If all the matter and energy were concentrated at a single point at the big bang, why wasn't that a black hole, or why didn't it form one? 2) If the reason #1 ...
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### Orbiting supermassive black hole or galactic center of mass?

One of the ways they measure the (supposed?) supermassive black hole at the galactic center of the milky way is to measure those tens of stars right at the galactic center that are orbiting what ...
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### What happens if you fail to reach escape velocity for the galaxy?

I was listening to Skeptics Guide to the Universe the other day, and Steve Novella mentioned that the escape velocity for the galaxy is 544 km/s. If an object fails to reach escape velocity on Earth, ...
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### Super massive black hole mass estimation in literature

What is the most accurate method for SMBH mass estimation? In the literature I could find 5 methods : (1) Marconi & Hunt 2003, (2) Hu 2008, (3) Gultekin et al. 2009, (4) Graham 2007, (5) McLure ...
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### Synthesising types of galaxies using various stellar spectra

I have asked this on Physics Stack Exchange but Astronomy is probably more appropriate. I have been given the task of synthesising an elliptical galaxy, a starburst galaxy and a spiral galaxy ...
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### Can a gas giant have an other gas planet as satellite?

Is it possible for a gas giant (A very big one) to have an other smaller gas planet as satellite?
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### Is gravity a source of infinite energy at a cosmological scale

As I understand it, gravity cannot be attenuated by any medium (in the way that EM radiation can be, for instance). Does this, then, not make it a source (theoretically, I am not talking of ...
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### What is the reason for high lithium concentrations in Sun-like stars?

In reading the European Space Organisation paper Lithium depletion in solar-like stars: no planet connection (Baumann et al. 2010), several conclusions based on their observations include: Lithium ...
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### time on earth compared to completely stationary in space

I recently started trying to understand the theory of relativity and I have the following question. Because earth is orbiting the sun at approx 67,000 mph (and its my understanding time slows down ...
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### How many meteors hit the moon every day or in how many days does a new meteor hit the moon?

What is the frequency of meteor strikes on the moon per day?
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### Why does Jupiter break comets apart?

I understand that there are magnificent tidal forces that come with getting too close to Jupiter, but what is causing comets like Shoemaker-Levy to get torn apart? I wouldn't expect that the ...
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### What would happen if a Black Hole and White Hole Collided?

Given our understanding of both black holes and white holes, what would be the outcome if they were both to suddenly collide? Black Holes: A black hole is a region of spacetime from which gravity ...
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### Is the white hole a myth or not?

I've been doing some research on white holes, and there has not been enough information to provide the answer. Some websites are saying that they might exist, but it is not yet proven. So, is it true ...
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### What are the color progression of a typical sunrise?

"Dawn simulators" are used to simulate a natural sunrise, or at least the physiological effects of one. What temporal sequence of color values (e.g., hue, saturation, brightness, and timing) ...
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### Energetics of Titans Tholin haze

So, I've googled and wiki'd on this, but no clue, so I turn my question to the community: Given Titan's nice orange haze that is supposedly composed of Tholins and strangely coincides with its ...
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### Why don't small stars end up as a black holes?

I've recently done some research about black holes, and I realized that big stars form black holes and small ones don't. Is it because the gravity isn't strong enough for it to fall in on itself, or ...
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### Companion Sun the cause of comet impacts with Earth

On television, I heard a scientist who believes that our Sun has a companion (brown dwarf) Sun, that is responsible for comets destroying life here on Earth every 26 million years. He proposed the ...
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### Could we fly/drive through Jupiter?

If Jupiter is made of gas, could we fly or drive through it or would its center be too dense?
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### Why does this graph for sunlight intensity on land has a steeper slope during sunrise as compared to sunset?

I got this image while checking weather data for a city in North India using Mathematica's Wolfram Alpha query I noticed one feature in the graph which i could not explain . Why does the encircled ...
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### If Jupiter is a gas-giant then why don't its features change?

A naive question. When we look at Jupiter, we see that its features didn't change largely over many years, for instance, the red-spot. If it is composed of gases and liquids, then why aren't the ...
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### Exercise: 2D orbital mechanics simulation (python)

Just a little disclaimer beforehand: I have never studied astronomy or any exact sciences for that matter (not even IT), so I am trying to fill this gap by self-education. Astronomy is one of the ...
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### What happens to photons that don't interact with something?

Say a photon left one of the first stars ever created in our universe. This photon has been traveling for 13+billion years through the vastness of space without ever hitting anything. Sure, it's ...
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### Is the Drake Equation an accurate way of finding the probability of life on planets?

I was interested in finding out if there was life on any planets or moons. I saw ReNiSh A R's question, and I saw the answer about there being life on Europa, but it didn't accurately answer what I ...
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### What will happen to our solar system if the milky way collided with Andromeda galaxy, would any planets survive? [duplicate]

Is there a chance if any planets in our solar system survive when the milky way and Andromeda collide?
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### Black Holes, how do they form?

Do black holes form by when the massive star dies and all the gravity falls in on itself, or something else. Please let me know, I'm really desperate!!
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### What causes the bright white area in this photo of the earth?

Regarding the photo of the earth described here, I know that the green tinge on the left hand side is to do with the aurora borealis. What's causing the bright white light on the right hand side?
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### How would Special relativity explain past-present-future if thinking about 13-billion-light-years distanced objects

Halo. I'm interested in how would Special relativity comment on this: Suppose there are 2 objects, A and B. They are 13 billion light years away from each other. When the light from the B object ...