# All Questions

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### What is the explanation for rapid inflation just after the big bang?

I often hear about cosmic inflation occurring rapidly after the Big Bang, but have never came across any explanation for it. What supposedly caused this inflationary period in the early universe? ...
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### How can I accurately find & apply the white donut to the center of my mirror?

I have a Plettstone 18" Dobsonian telescope and use a Howie Glatter tuBlug, laser collimator, and Square Grid Projection Attachment to adjust the mirrors. Proper collimation requires an accurate ...
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### Rate of star collpse

It is believed that our sun will become a red giant with a diameter of about 1 AU. When the fusion slows down, gravity will collapse the sun. Since the energy release from the fusion diminishes slowly ...
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### How did Kepler determine the orbital period of Mars?

As I understand it, Kepler used the orbital period of Mars, along with observational data of Mars' and the sun's position in the sky to derive the orbits of Earth and Mars. (As described, here: ...
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### Can spectroscopes identify minerals?

Could a spectrometer on a probe or space telescope identify minerals, not only elements and molecules, from the spectral lines? Is there any technology for identifying minerals remotely?
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### how does redshift prove expansion is accelerating?

My astronomy teachers never would answer this for me... Redshift obviously indicates an object (such as another galaxy) is moving away, but how do we know its acceleration from this? It's my ...
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### Sun path at poles

At places other than the poles, the sun is seen to "rise" on the Eastern horizon and to "set" on the Western horizon. After a period of night, the sun "reappears" on the Eastern horizon. At the ...
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### Finding the radius of an eccentric orbit at any point

Knowing the apoapsis, periapsis and therefore period of an orbit, how can I find the radius of an object in an orbit at a given angle or time, whichever is needed. For example, if I have an object m ...
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### Why there are three equations governing blackbody emission?

I learnt that the spectrum of a black body can be explained using Planck distribution Rayleigh -Jeans equation and Weins displacement law Can anyone tell me why there are three different equations ...
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### What is the galaxy M87 doing these days?

The massive elliptical galaxy M87 in the Virgo cluster is 53,490,000 light years away. It also contains one of the largest, heaviest supermassive black holes in the known Universe. But it's also my ...
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### Can I look at the sky and find the day of the week?

Suppose I wake up from a coma on a desert island in the 19th century (i.e. we already use the Gregorian calendar but have no satellites yet). I have a clear view of the sky and a couple of days to ...
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### What is the ratio of cosmic microwave background radiation to normal radiation?

I would like to know the ratio of cosmic microwave background radiation to normal radiation in the universe. I am considering cosmic microwave background radiation to include the microwave, and any ...
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### “If earth had rings like Saturn”: A few further thoughts on the consequences

I came across this video recently where artists depicted what it would look like if Earth had rings like Saturn. http://www.wimp.com/earthrings/ Please note: The video contains already some ...
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### what will be the exact position of the Thirty Meter Telescope [closed]

TMT will be put at Mauna Kea in Hawaii. It should be near Keck and Gemini. However it seems there is no place left at that site. What is the exact position?
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### Do star systems stripped from galaxies have different expected behavior?

Another way of stating this question: Does the fact that a star system (or comparable concentrated mass) exists in a galaxy affect its long-term evolution, in terms of expansion, contraction, ...
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### Point Spread Function size: Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM) vs Sigma

I having been studying some astronomy papers related to galaxy observations and I realized that every time they want to express the size of the Point Spread Function (PSF) of a system which can be ...
228 views

### Could light be dark matter?

Is it possible that light itself is dark matter? I am speaking of photons (e.g. visible light, infrared, ultraviolet, etc...). I realize light is understood to be massless, but it is obvious it at ...
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### Why do rocks on other solar system bodies that have an atmosphere seem to be flat?

Images taken by landers on Titan and Venus and Mars show landscapes where rocks, to me at least, are surprisingly flat. Being used to walking around in forests with roundish meter sized boulders, I'd ...
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### Speed comparison of both voyagers

I came across this page which provides (mostly extrapolated) speeds of both voyagers. Assuming they are fairly accurate, any reason why the speed of Voyager 2 (5-6 km/sec) is less than that of Voyager ...
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### Why doesn't this paradox disprove (some) multiverse quantum gravitational theories?

As I understand it, one theory of the multiverse is that there are an infinite number of universes separated by small distances in other (than our observable 3/4) dimensions and that gravity is weak ...
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### If the Universe is infinite, why isn't it of infinite density?

If we make the assumption that the Universe is infinite, and has an infinite number of hydrogen atoms, then why is it not of infinite density - because, under Schrodinger's wave equation the ...
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### Sensitivity of calculated orbital elements to observational errors

These days, we have some very precise ways of making measurements, but I'm sure it wasn't so in Kepler's day. So I am wondering how astronomers of that time could make such accurate determinations of ...
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### Invisible in visible light but visible in non-visible light?

This may be a stupid question, but I've been wondering this for a while and haven't yet found a solid answer. I'm worried the answer will be something along the lines of "of course not, you dummy" but ...
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### Can the next possible ice age be projected based upon the Milankovitch cycle?

The Milankovitch cycle describes the collective effects of changes in the Earth's movements upon its climate[.] By this theory, the Earth is now experiencing an interglacial. By the theory, ...
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### How many galaxies disappear beyond the Hubble Bubble horizon every year now?

The accelerating expansion of space means that the space between us and far away galaxies expands faster than light can travel through space. There is a horizon of possible observation beyond which ...
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### Naive star filter visible at night in certain country

I have a HYG catalogue and I'd like to filter out stars visible at night and in Europe. Doesn't have to be exact. I was assuming that it'll be all stars with positive declination, but I wasn't sure ...
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### Are there a lot of collisions between stars in the core of the galaxy?

I'm reading on Wikipedia about Halo Stars that orbit the center of the galaxy at a high inclination away from the plane of the Milky Way. It seems that at some point, these stars must dive back into ...
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### Are astronomers continuously monitoring exoplanetary systems?

I'm reading many of the Wikipedia pages about exoplanets and the different methods they are using to detect them. But I wonder, it seems that the emphasis is on detecting and finding new exoplanets, ...
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### Are there large underground caverns on Mars?

Scientists talk about the possibility of life underground on Mars, and I assume they are talking about microscopic life that can live in small gaps in the soil or rock. But is there any evidence that ...
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### Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope

What is a Schmidt-Cassegrain (SC) telescope? We have Newtonian telescopes and also Galilean ones. How is SC telescope different from other optical telescopes? What is its construction detail and ...
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### CCD in telescopes: Observation and Astro-photography

This is a Celestron CPC 800 XLT telescope. It doesn't seem to have charge-coupled device (CCD) attached. Can a CCD be attached separately to this 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope even if it didn't come ...
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### Help in determining the features of an unusual, fictional star system

(Hope this is the right Stack-exchange site for this question) I'm working on a sci-fi RPG campaign, set on a very atypical location. Since this is a work of fiction, there's enough room for ...
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### What are the objects that are visible from a city?

I live in a light polluted city of the northern hemisphere and I would like to know what I can see with my Skywatcher BK 707AZ2. I have already seen Jupiter (and its moons), Saturn, Mars, M45, the ...
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### Does mass create space?

Imagine two cubes each with the side 1 light year. One of the cubes is empty of any matter. The other cube contains a massive star. Does the cube which contains the massive star have a larger volume ...
225 views

### Burning Out Stars

In the book "A Really Short History Of Nearly Everything", I read that the larger the star is, the faster it burns itself. Whys that? Wouldn't there be more energy to burn if it's larger, and just be ...
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### Percent-illumination of crescent moon and its naked-eye visibility?

What level of percent-illumination of moon (waxing crescent), given by Stellarium, is enough to make it visible with naked eye, in clear sky? thanks
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### What's the likelihood of the existence of unknown elements in the Solar System?

What's the chance that there might be undiscovered chemical elements in the Solar System - either on planets or around the Sun or on asteroids of the Oort-cloud?
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### Supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies

The fact is, many, if not most large galaxies have a supermassive black hole at their center. My question is why? Is it because when these galaxies were first formed supermassive black holes were ...
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### Metallicity: What are the metallicity values of various galaxies?

What are the various values of metallicity of various known galaxies, like Milky Way, Large Magellanic Cloud, Small Magellanic Cloud, Andromeda and so on?
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### What is the farthest object we've been able to bounce signals off of to date?

I know people bounced lasers off of Venus and Mercury in 1960s in order to test the Shapiro delay. Since then, we've developed higher power lasers and radio transmitters (Bolshakovo transmitter). ...
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### What is the physics of a gas mass subject to gravity in space?

There are many formulas for atmospheric pressure on earth, but how does gas behave in free space? I am thinking about why stars form. I am guessing that the gas density will influence pressure, as ...
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### Is there a flaw with the newer purposes and correlations attributed to the HR diagram? (And would a third axis of mass correct the enclosed flaw?)

When I was younger, I was looking at HR diagrams, and began to experiment with the HR diagram. I was looking at plotting different groups of stars on the HR diagram when I found RV Tauri stars. ...
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### Any cheap (<100 euro) tools for observing the lines in solar spectrum?

I am now reading the book ''The story of Helium and the Birth of Astrophysics''. I really want to observe the lines (dark or bright) in the solar spectrum. Any easily available tools for an amateur? ...
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### Singularity in Laplace Method for Orbit Determination

I have a question about Laplace angle-only method for orbit determination where the line of sight vectors are being interpolated. I read somewhere that the method fails (due to a matrix being ...
187 views

### What is gravity really?

What is gravity? I want to know more than it being simply the "mysterious force" that attracts things to earth. Is it a particle, a wave, or something else entirely?
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### Formation of stars

How are stars formed? I read somewhere that when dust, gas, rocks etc come close to each other due to gravity, slowly and gradually build up a lot of pressure and form stars. If what I read is ...
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### Statistically, what would the average distance of the closest black hole be?

The closest confirmed black hole is several thousand light years away from earth. Our galaxy has about 100 billion stars. I didn't find any reliable information on the black hole count of ratio versus ...
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### How many new galaxies enter the observable universe each day/year/decade?

Each day light has more time to reach our eyes from distant galaxies. In one day, light travels 2.59×10^10 km. So our observable universe (assuming my simple math skills apply here and there isn't ...