All Questions

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Where does the solar system end?

This is a question I've heard many times in the past, and a quick search of the site says it hasn't been asked here, so I figured I might as well ask (and answer) it. I know that it is rare for ...
106 views

If the expansion of the universe is speeding up, how long until everything nears the speed of light, and what would happen?

Since dark energy is causing everything to speed up infinitely, wouldn't everything near the speed of light? And since it's nearing the speed of light, wouldn't all kinds of strange things start ...
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Can we see individual stars in other galaxies?

Just wondering if we can examine individual stars from other galaxies, or if we are pretty much stuck with the billions that are in the Milky Way?
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What is it like at the edge of the universe? [duplicate]

If the universe is expanding, then if you were to be close to the edge of that expansion, what would it look like? What would be happening? Would it be chaotic? Would objects be appearing or ...
132 views

Why can't the surfaces of stars be observed?

If I'm correctly informed, only three stars: Sol, Betelgeuse and Altair have surfaces which have been resolved by telescopes. All other stars are only point sources of light, even in the greatest of ...
32 views

How could we observe Dyson spheres? [duplicate]

Hypothetically, if Dyson spheres were already present, how could we observe them? My layman understanding of the reason we believe dark matter exists is that our current estimates of the total mass of ...
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Composition of planets' core

It is often possible to find a list of the materials that compose the cores and the mantle of plantes (often they are iron and/or nickel). How can these materials be determined in our Solar system? ...
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Would bacteria on incoming meteors burn before impacting?

I was watching an old Ancient Aliens last night and there was a whole episode dedicated to how the "Gods" (aliens) were spreading disease/plagues. A good portion of the show was dedicated to how ...
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What causes jets from newly born stars?

Newly born stars often have bilateral jets of gas ejected from them at high speeds (hundreds of km per seconds), often ending in Herbig-Haro objects. As I understand it those jets would have something ...
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Formation of Cosmic Microwave Background

It is said that the cosmic microwave radiation (CMB) was formed when the universe was 379,000 years old. How is this calculated?
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Planetary gas giants

I've read that a gas giant, like Jupiter, doesn't have a rocky surface. But planets must start as a rocky conglomerate of flotsam. Is the interior so hot that all the material is molten and there ...
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What is the shape and size of a gamma ray burst?

As I understand it, a gamma ray burst is created when a massive star collapses into a black hole. The poles of the black hole eject a massive burst of energy which we know as gamma ray bursts. So my ...
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Why can't we detect water on Mars in the same way as in exoplanets?

Often I see news articles claiming astronomers found exoplanets with water. If we are capable of detecting water on such distant objects, why don't we employ similar methods to find water on Mars or ...
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What is the size of the universe.is it infinite? [duplicate]

What is the exact size of the universe.is it infinite?
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Using Tully Fisher to measure Distance Problem

Can anyone explain by looking at the solution in the pic, how did the cos (i) came about? I guess they are getting this from the major-minor axis info in the question, but I am not sure about the ...
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How did scientists determine an estimate of the number of planets greater than Sedna's size to exist in the Inner Oort Cloud?

In the article, New Dwarf Planet Found at Solar System's Edge, Hints at Possible Faraway 'Planet X' (Wall, 2014) where they report on research and observations performed by astronomers that discovered ...
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What is the Fundamental plane for Elliptical Galaxies?

An alternate explanation rather than from wikipedia is preferable.
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Is there a general term for epicycles, deferents, and eccentrics in Ptolemaic astronomy?

According to Ptolemy's (c. 150 CE) account of the motions of planets, planets moved in circular paths ("epicycles") around center points that in turn moved around the center of the earth along a path ...
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Could a space radio telescope fill multiple purposes?

Dream for a while and imagine that there will be a flagship+ mission within a decade to put a large radio telescope in space: What kind of different tasks could the same radio equipment feasibly be ...
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I know when the human history ends. Or not?

If you think that we born on 1920...2000 and knows that the sun will explode 4 to 5 billion years from now. you will say that the time is a strange thing. I can not say that i will die before i know ...
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Is the location that published calendars use to calculate the seasons one specific location on the earth?

All the calendars in my house say the fall equinox is Tuesday the 23rd. All the astronomical programs and astronomical sources say it is it is Monday the 22nd in Ohio. Since the time given is 10:29 ...
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Is the expansion of the universe greater than the speed of light?

If the rate of expansion of the universe is increasing , won't it eventually become greater than c? Also, after inflation, did the rate of expansion slow down and then start to accelerate again?
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Why natural satellites (moons) of all Planets are Solid?

Why the natural satelittes (moons)of all planets including moons of Gas Giants are are Solid or Rocky and not gaseous like them?
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Is it conceivable that the presence of chlorophyll (or similar) could be distinguishable from other chemicals on an exoplanet?

If an Earth-like exoplanet had a sufficiently extensive plant biosphere (i.e large forests, aquatic algal mats etc), is it at all conceivable that scientists could spectroscopically detect the ...
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Requesting book references for a non-expert person with math background or just a non-expert person

I've just finished my masters degree (to be exact previous week ^_^). And I'm completing my collection of applications of my studies. During previous year I started reading about Robotics and Coding ...
137 views

Sky Glow calculations

I am leading a project for my High School NASA Club, and am looking for some advice. The goal of our project is to use a Raspberry Pi to control a camera that takes photos of the sky, and uses the ...
207 views

Appropriate battery for overnight viewing to drive telescope and GOTO?

I have a Plettstone 18" Dobsonian telescope with GOTO and clock drive that runs off a 12 volt cigarette lighter adapter. What is an appropriate battery to use to run this overnight while viewing all ...
46 views

How certain are we about the universe's flatness?

The universe is thought to be flat: $\Omega = 1 \pm 1\%$. As I understand it we can determine this by measuring triangles against the CMB. Yet during inflation dark energy made the universe grew ...
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Is there matter forming in the inflationary space?

Following the answers and the line of thinking from here Is there enough hydrogen left after a star dies so another star will have enough to light up? I was wondering if is there any possibility to ...
391 views

Why isn't the star that created the black hole a black hole?

If the mass of a black hole is creating so much gravity that light cannot escape, why isn't the mass of the star that created the black hole (before it went supernova) trapping light as well? By all ...
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How can light reach us from 14 billion light years away?

One thing that I can't quite wrap my head around is how light is traveling to Earth from 14 billion light years away, aka the beginning of the universe. The way I see it, the universe itself was very ...
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Free neutrons and stellar nucleosynthesis

Both the R-process and the S-process of stellar nucleosynthesis rely on absorbing 1 (S) or more (R) neutrons. Where do they come from? I thought there are no free neutrons in stars. (Also the ...
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Why are (Type II) supernovae so bright?

The vast majority of energy from a supernova is emitted as neutrinos and high-energy radiation, both of which being invisible to the naked eye. Yet a supernova can outshine its galaxy in the visible ...
206 views

Is there enough hydrogen left after a star dies so another star will have enough to light up?

A star consumes quite a lot of hydrogen in its life, and is pretty much "vacuuming" everything in its vicinity. After it dies (eventually by supernova which will spread all its composition over light ...
226 views

How fast is a comet moving when it crosses Earth's orbit?

Is it about the same as Earth's orbital speed?
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Did cosmological inflation occur at speeds greater than $c$?

If cosmological inflation occurred at speeds less than $c$, wouldn't we see the CMB right in front of our noses (or not at all) instead of at 13.7 billion light years? And if it happened faster than ...
60 views

Expansion of the Universe [duplicate]

Please forgive my ignorance. I dare say that these questions arise from me trying to understand the nature of the Universe using Newtonian physics. There are a few things that really bother me when ...
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What are the biggest problems about the numerical, finite-element GR models?

As I know, for example the modelling of the collapse of a neutron star (to a black hole) wasn't done correctly until now. Why? Yes, I know, the Einstein Field Equations aren't really easy to solve. ...
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Which kind of properties can we get for cosmic ray particles hitting on an optical ccd?

It is very common that we meet cosmic ray particles in optical images recorded by CCDs. You can see the "snowflakes" in the hubble images below: Generally we should remove them in order to get ...
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How massive can a star be at birth? [duplicate]

We have discovered some incredibly massive stars. R136a1, the most massive known star is estimated to have 265 times mass as our Sun. Yet it has been burning for at least a million years, and must ...
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During an eclipse, does the size of the moon and sun match perfectly?

During a lunar or solar eclipse, from our perspective when we look towards the moon and the sun is behind the moon, does it fit exactly? Has anyone calculated the sizes of each in a relative ...
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Tools for creating a multiwavelength view of the sky

Not sure that this is the correct place to ask this question, but here goes. I am trying to find tools to accumulate image data (preferably in FITS format) on a given (RA, Dec)-coordinate of sky. ...
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Conditions on Hot Jupiters

Hot Jupiters are close to their parent star - after all, that's why they're so hot. Their atmospheres are thought to be slowly blown away by the parent star, and they will eventually become chthonian ...
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What is the difference between Sphere of Influence and Hill sphere?

Wikipedia's definition of Hill sphere is: An astronomical body's Hill sphere is the region in which it dominates the attraction of satellites. To be retained by a planet, a moon must have an orbit ...
189 views

Selecting a Telescope for Viewing Planets

I hope to observe planets like Jupiter and Saturn, and moons. I am a novice when it comes to telescopes and I know images in magazines are not taken with at least 12-inch telescope in a middle of ...
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Milky way: How do we know its appearance? [duplicate]

How can we know how does the Milky Way look like if we are in it? Sorry if the answer is evident, I am not an expert.
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Can you explain the pattern of Hill sphere sizes of the objects of the Solar system?

I found this image on calculations of Hill sphere for planets/dwarf planets of the Solar system. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hill_sphere_of_the_planets.png I found it interesting that ...
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Is a spotting scope or binoculars a better choice for astronomy?

I'm interested in observing the moon and planets, and maybe some nebulae and star clusters. I have a pair of binoculars: Nikon OceanPro 7x50 binoculars (around \\$300) Celestron 20x80 binoculars ...