# All Questions

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### Is it possible to be 'still' in space?

So I was reading this answer about how galaxies are the fastest moving objects in the universe because space is expanding faster than the speed of light. This got me wondering, would it be possible to ...
722 views

### Is Earth's 1g solid surface gravity unusually high for exoplanets?

The surface gravities of the Sun’s planets are all close to 1g, 0.38-2.53 (about a factor of e, by chance). The cloud-top gravity of the gas giants is not too interesting here, but I suppose that the ...
529 views

### How do I calculate the velocity dispersion of a galaxy given an integral field spectrograph?

I couldn't find on the web how to get the velocity dispersion and velocity maps of galaxies from the 3D data cube that I get from the integral field spectrograph.
462 views

### Do solstices and equinoxes shift over time?

Right now, I think the winter solstice is around December 21. Has it always been around this date constantly? Since the earth's axis's 23.45° tilt will be on the exact opposite side in 13000 years ...
12k views

### What will happen to life on Earth when the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies collide?

It is said that the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies are coming close to each other with a speed of approximately 400000 km/hour. They will be together in the next 4 billion years. What will happen ...
157 views

### star atlas with absolute magnitude and spectral type

Is there any star atlas someone recommends? Then for some kind of star with a definite spectral type, we can know its absolute magnitude.
151 views

### The reason behind Big Bang

It always amuse us to research about things around us and we always start our research with a question that - what must be the reason for happening of that phenomenon? As we know that the formation ...
48 views

### Question about the formation of elements

So, elements such as iron, gold, etc. are formed from different types of supernovas, whether it's type 1A or 2. My question is, is it possible that there are elements that are formed that we never ...
228 views

### Is it possible to extend the life of a star?

Is it true that when a star 'runs out' of its fuel, it hasn't really used up all its hydrogen, it still has hydrogen left, but the hydrogen is not at its center where the fusion happens. If something ...
197 views

### Convert orbital elements to positions and velocities

I've written a quick and dirty n-body simulator, but currently it requires initial positions and velocities. I've been looking for a way to convert Keplerian orbital elements to positions and ...
672 views

### Why can't I see Mars clearly?

I just bought my first telescope - a Celestron CDC 1100. It came with a 40mm lens so with a primary focal length of 2800mm the power should be 70x. My problem is that I've looked at Sirius and Mars ...
127 views

### Apogalacticon and Perigalacticon

What is the length of the apogalacticon and perigalacticon of the Sun and Milky Way? The general terms seem to be apoapsis and periapsis. My greatest efforts at Googling have failed miserably. If ...
78 views

### Average rate of supernova x number of stars

If we would take the average number of supernovae per year and multiply that by the number of stars, could we figure out how many years it will be before all stars are gone?
419 views

### Is it possible to create an artificial Black Hole?

I am quite curious about black holes. Once I just thought whether it is possible to create an artificial Black Hole, i.e. an human made black hole. Also explain there formation if it is possible.
147 views

### Earth's gravitational pull on ISS

How do they make International space station to orbit the earth beyond earth's gravity acting on it? We all know that ISS is rotating at an altitude of just 350km away.How could ISS escape earth's ...
33 views

### Do more objects appear on sky in time?

I would assume that, with light from more distant areas in space reaching the earth, we should be able to see more distant (and older) objects. However there's lot of weird stuff regarding the space ...
57 views

### Sattelite's orbit

What is the maximum distance for a satellite to orbit the earth? Does earth's gravity has the impact on satellite? I do know that earth's gravity will never be zero and it's gravity is inversely ...
207 views

### Do telescopes harm while observing sun through them?

I don't know whether we can observe a sun through a telescope. But if we can then will it harm our eyes and if such telescopes exists what is their configuration?
172 views

### What is the speed of light relative to (in space)?

From what I understand the universe is expanding faster than the speed of light and accelerating so that it's possible that a given galaxy: $A$ will no longer be visible to another given galaxy: $B$. ...
32 views

### Locate asteroid in asteroid belt

I was interested in tracking the orbit of 1986 DA. I couldn't find any resource when I looked. Just for fun, so any help appreciated.
54 views

### Asteroids turning out to be Meteorites [closed]

What causes an asteroid to loose control over it's orbit and enter in to another objects atmosphere?
61 views

### State of the stars

This question may sound silly but I'm really not pretty sure whether the stars are rotating or stationary.If they are not rotating what makes them to be stable?
148 views

### Do meteorites streak across the sky in the same direction?

Once while camping with my family as a child we all watched a meteor shower in the summer (in the month of August). All the meteorites streaked across the sky in the same direction. Obviously, this ...
139 views

### How fast is the universe expanding?

I've hear several theories stating that the universe is expanding faster than the speed of light, others claim that the universe expands faster the further away you measure it. Which of this is ...
317 views

### When did the Moon stop?

According to various theories the Moon was created around 4.5 billion years ago. About all of these theories suggest that it was rotating around its axis at that time though. Currently, Moon is at ...
609 views

### How to get the longitude/latitude from solar zenith/azimuth?

How do I get the longitude/latitude from zenith/azimuth? Or how can I position my sun in a 3d application? code extracted from here ...
440 views

### Can an amateur astronomer bounce a laser off the moon?

In the TV show "Big Bang Theory" episode "The Lunar Excitation", the gang fires a laser from their rooftop, bounces it off mirrors on the moon, and measures the laser coming back on a computer. Is ...
110 views

### Why is a meteorite impact on the moon visible as white light?

You can watch a video of a meteorite impacting the moon at the npr.org website. Why does the impact produce white light? I understand that the impact is like an explosion, but there is no air on ...
226 views

### Why are most lunar maria on the visible side?

Is there any reason why the Earth side of the Moon has enormous plains and mountains, while the far side contains just few small ones inside largest craters?
376 views

### Spotting the International Space Station (ISS)

Recently, I visited the NASA website which provides sighting locations to see the International Space Station (ISS). As we all know, we can even see ISS with the naked eye in a clear sky as a passing ...
195 views

### What is Event Horizon of a Black Hole? [closed]

The boundary of a black hole is said to be surrounded by event horizon - the point of no return! What is its significance in terms of general relativity?
157 views

### How far apart can two people watch the moon simultaneously?

Obviously there's a limited part of earths surface where the moon is visible at any given time. I imagine the area of this surface would be a lot smaller than the area where the sun is visible at any ...
240 views

### Why does e.g. Hubble's secondary mirror not block part of the picture?

The SOHO observatory has an opaque object in the light path that blocks the direct light from the sun making it possible to observe the corona. Hubble and many other telescopes have a big primary ...
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### Do planetary surface temperatures change in unison in a solar system?

Are there any known correlations between the changes in planetary surface temperatures in a solar system? If so, do the farthest planets have smaller albeit correlated changes?
93 views

### How would light from a blue or red star affect the way we see?

How would things look if we saw them through the light of a blue or red star? Would there be any changes?
421 views

### What is the maximum number of planets in the habitable zone?

At present, it seems like we are alone in our solar system. How many earth-like planets would fit into the habitable zone of the solar system? The orbits should be stable for quite a time, i.e. for ...
141 views

### Black Hole, Object or Portal? [closed]

Some say that a black hole is a rip in space-time, a portal linking two points in the universe as one. How sound is this? I've read that when a giant star collapses, what is left behind (a massive ...
147 views

### Age of the universe

A Galactic year is estimated to be around 250 million "terrestrial" years. That means there will be about 4 rotations per billion years. And age of the universe is estimated to be near 13.8 billion ...
140 views

### If we lived in a multiverse, what would our universe most likely then be named? [closed]

For instance, we live in the Milky Way Galaxy. We don't just call it "The Galaxy", because we know there are multiple different galaxies. So if we lived in a multiverse, it wouldn't make much sense to ...
79 views

### Is light bending around my finger? [closed]

I was hoping that astronomy enthusiasts/scientists would help me out with a simple question about light. Hold your outstretched hand up to any bright light source (the sun, or even a light bulb) so ...
40 views

### Heavy bombardment - Why has things cooled?

I was always taught and lead to believe that at the beginning of our solar system, there was a period of heavy bombardment, which is conceivable. Why has it just stopped and we are at peace from ...
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### If Venus and Mars changed places, would we then have 3 habitable planets?

This is the supposition: Venus is too hot, Mars is too cold. If they switched places then Solar energy would change to make both more Earth like. We might as well have had three instead of just one ...
1k views

### How can I calculate the orbital periods in a binary star system?

I have two stars, with known masses and known orbital radius. How do I calculate the orbital periods of both stars?
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### What would the sky have looked like when galaxies first started to form?

If I stood on a theoretical earth at the time that galaxies were just starting to form, what would the sky have looked like? Due to the smaller size of the universe would it have been densely packed ...
52 views

### What is that void that the universe is growing into? [duplicate]

We understand that this is the universe and it is essentially full of space and time, but what is on the outside of the universe, and isn't that nothing, something, and how far does that reach. I.e. ...
379 views

### Why does the darkening of the Moon go from left-to-right during an eclipse?

In anticipation of the upcoming April 2014 lunar eclipse, I decided to use the 3D virtual planetarium software Stellarium to simulate what it is supposed look like where I live, since I've never ...
63 views

### How close would quasars have been to each other?

My understanding is that quasars are the early phase of formation of galaxies. At the time quasars were forming, the universe would have been smaller and therefore things closer to each other. About ...
194 views

### Absolute magnitudes of stars

Where to find comprehensive list of absolute magnitudes for stars of different spectral types? I need published paper or web page with data and reference to the source.