# All Questions

131 views

### What particles does a black hole emit when it evaporates itself?

Due to Hawking Radiation, after a very long time, a black hole will eventually disappear. But where does this "evaporation" go? What is this made of?
4k views

### What are the differences between matter, dark matter and antimatter?

I thought dark and anti matter were kinda the same, but after saw a video, they mention that dark matter is not antimatter but their explanation is a little fast so I got doubts. What are the ...
542 views

### Earth Rotation and Orbit Geometry

Let Line A be the projection of the axis of Earth's rotation onto the plane of the eliptic. Let Line B the line connecting the center of the Earth and center of the Sun. At what times during the ...
59 views

### Calculate Atmospheric Extinction Using Source Altitude Angle

I am trying to code up the following article http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2349512 (alternative free access version) to calculate the light reflected from the moon to a given point on earth at a ...
308 views

### Is the ratio between earth's distance from the sun and the speed of light just a coincidence?

I was doing some calculations to see how hard it would be to observe the speed of light and discovered an interesting correlation between the speed of light and the average distance from the earth to ...
165 views

### How much illumination do the background stars provide?

I'm trying to get a better understanding of what things look like in "outer space." The main problem I'm trying to solve right now, is how much illumination is provided by the background stars. Is it ...
118 views

### Why are so many sun-like stars found in multiple systems? How do planets form in such a situation?

It has been reported that perhaps half of nearby sun-like stars are found in multiple systems. Why is this so common, and how do planets form in such a situation? Kaitlin M. Kratter, “Sibling ...
76 views

### Has New Horizon's data updated Charon's orbital elements?

For years I've been fascinated with the mutually tide-locked bodies Pluto and Charon. In July 2012, The Astronomical Journal published an article The Orbit of Charon Is Circular by Buie, Tholen and ...
49 views

### Why would it matter to us if space is infinite versus being finite? [closed]

More specificlly, what are some of the differences for contemporary sciences and humanity if there are multiple universes versus just one? I ask because I'm writing a story and I want to put into ...
75 views

### What's the difference between the Julian and the Julian Ephemeris Day?

I'm making a code where I calculate the sun position in a given time. But I also want to learn astronomy with it. I'm following a .pdf to make the program, and in this .pdf it says The Julian Day ...
25 views

### What is the term for the point between a star and planet where a 3rd object will cast the largest shadow on the planet?

Is there a particular orbital configuration that would allow an object to orbit a planet while casting a stable shadow on a planet in said position? I would also be interested to know if there is a ...
181 views

### What types of signals is SETI (and other such efforts) looking for?

This seemed to be the closest group for this question. Every few months there are a few articles asking "Are we alone in the universe" which focus on the Fermi Paradox, the Drake Equation, and end by ...
433 views

### Do all planets have a van Allen radiation belt?

Earth has the van Allen radiation belts. Which other planets have one? Can it be determined if distant planets in other solar systems have one?
205 views

### What is exactly the “longitude of the perigee”

Some moon phase calculation algorithms (apparently derived from Duffet-Smith's book, example here) seem to use a parameter called "longitude of perigee at epoch". What exactly is this? Can I assume ...
46 views

### accuracy of an artificial satellite at certain magnitude

When we say that 'accuracy of gaia satellite is 10 $\mu$as at $V = 10$ magnitude in position and annual proper motion'. What does this mean. Does it change over time.
73 views

### Equation for solar radiation at a given latitude on a given exoplanet?

I'm trying to find equations that would help me determine the amount of solar radiation hitting a certain latitude on a certain planet given the following inputs: the degrees of latitude of the ...
197 views

### Why Earthian atmosphere is so thin?

Venus is somewhat lighter then Earth, yet has a much thicker atmosphere. One would imagine that the following should be true: During the formation phase, all inner planets had captured as much gas ...
440 views

### Can a astronomical telescope view objects on Earth

I am new to telescopes, and planning to buy an astronomical telescopes like "Celestron AstroMaster 114 EQ Reflector". Just curious to know that whether it can be used to view objects on earth (...
143 views

### What is space temperature around Earth?

What is the equilibrium temperature that a black body will reach at the Earth's distance from Sun?
106 views

### How long is the moon full

Is the moon the most full only for one moment As stated here and here Or does if stay the same full for a longer period of time (maybe because, the sun is grater then it, and light spreads out) ...
487 views

### How do I remove fungus from a telescope mirror?

I use a Celestron NexStar 130SLT Azimuthal Newtonian Reflector. I noticed that recently, due to the wet season, some tiny spots of what appears to be fungus have appeared. Having taking appropriate ...
150 views

### What makes the moon, a super moon

Caught a sight of moon tonight (by chance) and came in surprise that moon looks thrice in size to its usual size. Mostly called as Blue moon. Didn't succeed in getting the details and explanations ...
288 views

### Has the conjunction between Venus, Jupiter, and Regulus only occurred twice in 2,000 years?

I recently heard the claim that mid-July, the "Star of Bethlehem" formed for the first time in 2,000 years, where the Star of Bethlehem is a three-way conjunction between Venus, Jupiter, and Regulus. ...
68 views

### Could spy satellites use laser guide stars (for adaptive optics)?

Are sodium lasers useful for Earth observing space telescopes/spy satellites?
44 views

### Review Content for my Comet Infographic

I've been hard at work in recent months on an infographic that details the anatomy of a comet... I'm a graphic designer and this is a fun little side-project of mine. It's only quite basic in terms of ...
55 views

### Which structure is represented in this video (if any)?

I know this is not supposed to be precise since it is just a movie but I would suppose it is based on real things. In the Contact movie intro https://youtu.be/EWwhQB3TKXA?t=1m I think the Milk Way is ...
123 views

### Does the shape of a supernova remnant depend on the progenitor star's magnetic field?

The magnetic field activity in a star can be very chaotic and my question is are they somehow related?
56 views

### Do magnetic fields affect planetary rings?

Planetary rings seem to generally form on the ecliptic plane because of the rotation of the planet, but I was wondering what kind of effect the magnetic field of the planet might have on the ring ...
38 views

### How easy is it to mine water on Ceres?

It has been suggested by some futuristic or sci fi leaning thinkers, that Ceres' surface might be mined for water to support human exploration and settlement of space. But NASA's Dawn mission and ...
132 views

### How thick can planetary rings be?

This arose from a comment on Worldbuilding. We have data from four planets in the Solar System with rings, which doesn't make for a very good sample size. Observations of exoplanets could change that,...
78 views

### Available energy for potential life on Titan

There is an interesting discussion about whether there could be life on Saturn's moon Titan. (For example here.) The life could use reaction of hydrogen and acetylene which are being produced by ...
48 views

### Orbiting and landing on non-sperical objects

If we orbit a non-spherical asteroid or moon at a sufficient distance I believe that we can consider it to be a point mass. Therefore we can take up a conventional orbit. Assuming our lander craft is ...
112 views

### How to specify SM libraries for MOOG

I am running MOOG on OS X Yosemite and with \$MOOG running the abfind driver I can force fit elemental abundances with an appropriate input line list and model ...
40 views

### Could evaporating hot Jupiters have metallic hydrogen on their surfaces?

Jupiter is believed to have metallic hydrogen in its core. And gas giants that migrate to become hot Jupiters are believed to evaporate, have their atmospheres blown away by their nearby star. Can ...
84 views

### How common are exoplanets in distant orbits?

Are there many single transits in the Kepler data, which might be exoplanets with a longer orbital period than the time they have been observed for transits? Can any conclusions be drawn about how ...
131 views

### Is it possible to create a traditional clock solar system?

Is it possible to create the following system of satellites?: Place a satellite that orbits the some object X, once per day. Call it D. Place a satellite that orbits D, once per hour. Call it H ...
114 views

### What is the average color of the universe?

Our Earth, being a beautiful blue orb, has an overall perceived wavelength of somewhere near 470 nm, that being the wavelength of light blue, because the oceans play an enormous role in the weighted ...
32 views

### What is the probability of an astronomical body hitting you?

It appears that there is already a calculated ballpark for meteor fatalities, but what about other factors such as space trash, comets, and other miscellaneous items in space? Is it possible to ...
50 views

### Do celestial bodies have many asteroids orbiting them?

Are there statistics on the expected number of asteroids (of various sizes) to orbit planets and moons in our (or other) solar systems? Do we know of other natural bodies orbiting the Earth (besides ...
357 views

### Why are there no stars on New Horizons images of Pluto

I followed the New Horizons Mission a little, and saw among others this image of Pluto: I wonder, why you can't see any stars on it. As far as my very basic knowledge in astronomy goes, I think you ...
48 views

### Before Voyager 2, what were the highest quality photos of Uranus and Neptune?

I'm in search of historical knowledge of the outer ice giants, which seems so hard to come by. Right now I would be happy with just a photo of each, the best photo we had of them before Voyager 2. ...
86 views

### How large must an object be to be seen through a telescope?

I've studied this in a few optics classes before, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment. If I know the aperture size and focal length of a telescope, as well as how far away the object I want to view ...
80 views

### Hubble law, cosmological redshift and distance

I have got confused with some cosmology formulas which calculate distance. The most famous formula is indeed the Hubble law which says (nowadays) velocity is proportional to Hubble's parameter at ...
237 views

### How did New Horizons take such well-lit pictures of Pluto?

The photos of Pluto from New Horizons are truly beautiful. But considering that Pluto is so far away from its nearest start - our Sun - how is it so well lit up? Did the New Horizons have a massive ...
100 views

### How much more massive would Pluto have to be to clear its neighborhood?

How much more massive would Pluto have to be to clear its neighborhood?
250 views

### Is expanding universe adding potential energy?

A system with two massive bodies has potential energy proportional to their separation. Since the universe is expanding, is the potential (and total?) energy of such a system slowly increasing? What ...
374 views

### How can a planet have a 90° inclination?

Planetary systems as we understand it exist from a disk of mass when the parent star is young. That's why all our planets are in the same plane, or close to it. See also Why is the solar system ...
354 views

### Orbits in a binary star system

I know of three sets of stable orbits in a binary star system: orbiting closely around star A, orbiting closely around star B, or orbiting distantly around both stars (and their mutual center of ...