All Questions

84 views

How did the Mars satellites “take cover” from the recent comet flyby?

After comet Sliding Spring's Oct. 19, 2014 close flyby of Mars, NASA reports that All three NASA orbiters around Mars confirmed their healthy status Sunday after each took shelter behind Mars ...
60 views

How near to Earth do comets pass?

Siding Spring now passes about 10 Earth diameters away from Mars. What are the estimates of how often comets fly by Earth at different distances? Are the distances to some famous historical comets ...
1k views

Diameter of any galaxy

I've been trying to figure out how to find the diameter in kpc of any galaxy given that one knows the distance to it in Mpc (d) and also the angular diameter/size (A) in arcsec. I had a formula before ...
291 views

What would be the dynamics of a double-planet system, similar to Earth / Moon, but with both bodies nearly Earth-sized?

Researching a sci-fi story involving a "twin-planet" system. Is such an arrangement (however unlikely) physically possible? And if so, must they be tidally locked with each other, similar to the moon, ...
2k views

Do all stars have an oort cloud or is it a rare occurance?

Do all stars have an oort cloud like ours that will be filled with comets and other objects? If not, why are they not around every star?
71 views

Star class according to initial mass

Studying the stars classes for my homework (school) i learned that stars are classified by the spectral types (Harvard) and luminosity class (MKK) .. So the sun is a star class ...
365 views

How much would you weigh if Earth stopped orbiting the Sun? [closed]

I have a curious question. The reason why astronauts are weightless in space is because they are orbiting Earth. If they suddenly stopped orbiting they would fall directly into Earth. Earth is doing ...
88 views

Is early life required for life?

I was watching the new Cosmos and Neil DeGrasse Tyson said something that made me go hmmm... He mentioned that the only reason that the Earth did not experience the runaway greenhouse effect like ...
211 views

Planets and Pluto? Neptune?

If one of the rules to be a planet is that it needs to clear ALL objects from their orbit, does this also make Neptune a non-planet? Since it has thus far failed to clear Pluto (and based on an answer ...
133 views

What is the correct ratio of Newtonian to General Relativistic gravitational effects for Sun + single planet orbital system

For a hypothetical orbital system (Sun + single planet) the Newtonian model and the General Relativity (GR) model produce different expressions for the gravitational effect of the Sun on the planet. ...
54 views

why do we look at dark energy as an energy?

We call dark matter dark matter, because of the way it acts on galaxies, but why do we look at dark energy as an energy? With $E = m c^2$, can't dark energy be mass as well? Why dont we look at dark ...
51 views

Could dark matter be considered a medium?

Long ago, it was theorized that light had to travel through a medium, until the particle/wave duality of light was discovered. Then it changed to the idea that light can travel through the vacuum of ...
86 views

Time period in which a planet rotates

I notice that Wikipedia give two contradictory terms for the time period in which a planet rotates in relation to an infinitely-distant object. In one place this is called a "sidereal day" and in ...
46 views

Mapping selenographic coordinates onto a sphere

I have a 3D rendering of the moon, which is represented as a sphere with a radius of N pixels. I also have selenographic coordinates. For example, the coordinates of the Apollo 11 landing site are ...
114 views

Evolution of Life

Since life evolved here on Earth does that mean that life had to have existed before or in the future elsewhere in the Universe or could it be a one time only freak accident ?
64 views

A question about stellar magnitude and the pogson's equation

Well surely the eye has different sensitivity to various wavelengths... will the pogson's equation not be affected if say I compare Betelgeuse and Rigel( both having a marked difference in spectral ...
61 views

Are epicycles and mean Earth/Sun actually useful astrophysical concepts?

Copernicus put the Sun in the center of the Solar system. This turns the Moon's orbit into an epicycle around Earth orbit. And the Jovian moons (later discovered) have orbits which are epicycles ...
73 views

In a star, the fact that not all the hydrogen is used up, not all the helium is used up etc. is a little counterintuitive. Shouldn't it be that a star looses the hydrogen layer passively, in other ...
142 views

How can a planet not rotate at all and yet have 1 year that is day and 1 year that is night?

A mercury day if you consider its solar day is 2 mercury years. Now if you consider just 1 half of mercury, in 1 of those years it is facing towards the sun and in another one of those years it is ...
236 views

What happens if gravity shuts down for only one second?

Question has it all.What happens if total gravitational force in the universe shuts down for only one second?
31 views

Binary star not exceeding Roche Lobe?

Is it possible that a binary star doesn't exceed its Roche lobe and so when the second star becomes a red giant, instead of accreting some of its plasma onto the white dwarf that it becomes a white ...
111 views

Why does iron consume more energy in the fusion process than it produces?

I understand that once a star starts fusing iron, it's doomed to collapse because iron fusion requires more energy than it releases in the process, allowing the opposing gravity of the star to cause ...
51 views

what is a MIA satellite

I came across this sentence in a magazine: We sit outside the Lorne Community Hall, Victoria, watching the MIA satellite overhead. I wonder if the author is talking about an artificial ...
72 views

Is Mars expected to go through the tail of Comet Siding?

This question will likely be answered "in retrospect" in about 8 days. So it's a great opportunity to "lay it out there" and then let reality prove you right/wrong. On the 19th of October, Comet ...
55 views

Why objects are uniquely defined by their right ascention and declination?

I've just started studiyng Astronomy. I understood how I would measure Right Ascention and Declination: for the first one I'd trace an Hour cirlce to the Celestial Equator, and then, compute the ...
140 views

Detecting Deep Impact

There have been several accounts in media articles of asteroid near misses, many describe that the asteroid was not seen before the near miss. After reading the question and answer to How can we tell ...
227 views

Fate of the Universe

Which scenario will be worse for the ultimate fate of the Universe , forever expanding or the "Big Crunch" ? Will the Universe be destroyed in both scenarios ? At the present time does it appear that ...
88 views

Why didn't Johannes Kepler use data about more planets?

In Astronomia Nova (1609) Johannes Kepler used observations of Mars in order to refute circular orbits. Throughout Astronomia Nova he hardly even mentions other planets than Mars, Earth and the Sun ...
63 views

Is the whole universe is rotating on an axis?

Most of the celestial bodies we know are rotating or spinning on its axis.Is there any chance for the universe to rotate on its axis?
150 views

My name is Chris, I am a junior and I'm taking an Astronomy class in my high school. For a homework assignment, I have to explain how the Sun would move across the sky from September 1st through ...
60 views

Can Hubble red shift be interpreted as time dilation?

Can we interpret the de Sitter universe as a spherical cosmic horizon null surface of finite radius, centered at Earth, and containing the Hubble volume of space where time is dilated and radial ...
115 views

Is Earth's orbital eccentricity enough to cause even minor seasons, without axial tilt?

I was reading the answers to this question about an exoplanet having seasons without axial tilt, and several responders mention that orbital eccentricity could cause a similar effect, but that the ...
112 views

Time dilation at the Big Bang [duplicate]

At the time the Big Bang happened the matter had enormous density. According the GR (I may be wrong here) such density dilates time. If so, could it be that the time periods just after Big Bang which ...
94 views

Why Earth's perihelion occurs 3rd January rather than 1st?

Why Earth's perihelion occurs 3rd January rather than 1st January? Is there any effort to correct this discrepancy?
78 views

Is there a theoretical limit on telescope's resolution?

Is there a theoretical limit on what we can see with a telescope of fixed size based on Earth's orbit or the Moon, that is in Earth's region of Solar system outside the Earth's atmosphere? Why not ...
34 views

Does cosmological horizon grow or decrease as it radiates?

Black holes decrease as they evaporate and their radius decreases as well. So what is with a cosmological horizon? If cosmological horizon is just a black hole centered at the opposite side of the ...
1k views

Would an exoplanet without axial tilt have no seasons?

Would an Earth analog exoplanet which rotates around a solar analog, but without axial tilt, have no seasons? Would it be similar to how Los Angeles does not have very noticeable seasons compared to ...
19 views

What is the furthest object from which fermion rays were detected?

What is the furthest object from which non-electromagnetic cosmic rays were detected?
63 views

What day/night cycles, climate and seasons would experience Alpha Centauri Bb inhabitants?

Alpha Centauri Bb is an exoplanet orbiting Alpha Centauri B. It is asserted that given the close distance to the star the planet should be tidally locked. The orbiting period of the planet is about ...
60 views

Is it possible that only one hemisphere of a planet has an atmosphere?

Suppose there is a tidally locked planet orbiting a star. The planet's surface consists of a global ocean, that is, liquid water. At the inner hemisphere the temperature is so high that the water is ...
75 views

How can astronomers determine the difference between “hydrostatic equilibruim” and “just happens to be spherical”?

This is relevant for the definition of a dwarf planet. I presume the answer will be, well, if we can tell the mass of the body and guess the material. I don't find this very satisfactory because ...
69 views

The furthest horizon in the Solar system

Where can I observe the furthest horizon in the Solar system ? And what the length of it ? The furthest horizon on Earth can be observed from mount Everest ~ 336 km, On Mars - from mount Olympus ~ 386 ...
61 views

What is the danger for Ceres of collision with other asteroids?

In the context of possible colonization of Ceres, would not such colony be totally impossible because of high probability of collision of Ceres with other asteroids in the Asteroid Belt?
118 views

Could we actually freeze a star?

I read an article recently that said NASA has discovered a brown dwarf that has frozen. If we had the technology, resources, and supplies, could we actually freeze a star and stop it from burning its ...
77 views

Can a person at a photon sphere of a black hole decide where the black hole is?

A person at the photon sphere of a black hole will observe the following: The black hole surface will cover exactly half of the visible sky (say, the left half), and cosmic horizon will cover the ...
69 views

Age of the universe and age of stars

The age of the universe is 13.798±0.037 billion years, yet the age of HD 140283 is 14.46±0.8 billion years, how this can be the case?
675 views

What causes the dimensions of a star increase when its hydrogen fuel is exhausted?

What causes the dimensions of a star increase when its hydrogen fuel is exhausted? For example, the Sun is expected to increase its radius 250 times. What causes this if its temperature is expected to ...
119 views

How would we detect a planet behind the Sun?

Let's assume hypothetically that Earth has a twin planet on the opposite side of Earth's orbit. Its orbital period would be exactly the same as Earth's and it would always be behind the Sun so ...
229 views

Do black holes have energy?

So black holes are created by certain dying stars and when the star runs out of nuclear energy gravity wins out and the star implodes. An entire star’s mass collapses down into a smaller and smaller ...
65 views

Is there a lower limit for the altitude of orbiting objects?

As I understand it, one object can orbit another at a variety of altitudes, and the stability of the orbit is determined by (among other things) the speed of the orbiting object. Go too slowly and ...

15 30 50 per page