# All Questions

140 views

### Might the universe be really small yet seem infinite from spherical reflections? [closed]

if a single source of light quite small, was placed somewhere inside a completely reflective sphere, quite large, what would the reflections look like from the light source's point of view within that ...
86 views

### Einstein General relativity and bending of space [closed]

As Einstein's General relativity suggests that the space time curves in the presence of matter, which is experimentally proven too, this phenomenon also explains orbits. My question is if the ...
164 views

### “How the Universe Works”: is it scientifically accurate? [closed]

The documentary/mini-series How the Universe Works is based on scientific evidence and according to what is known nowadays, or sheer bunk? Throughout the series, are there any particular topics which ...
48 views

### Telescope in Sun's gravity lens focus - pointing, gain, distortions

A telescope located in the gravitational focus of the Sun can use the Sun as a magnifying lens. The focus begins 550 AU away, but maybe a 700 or 1000 AU distance is needed to get rid of disturbances ...
65 views

### Density of hydrogen between galaxies

From watching a video on youtube, it states that Dark Matter is 6 times more abundant than known matter. I was wondering if it was possible to have hydrogen clouds between the universes galaxies. The ...
112 views

### Adjust axis labels in ds9

How can I adjust the axis labels in ds9? I'd like to have something like: So far I only managed to get floating points (tl h%f3): or the leading hours are missing (tl h%f1 m): Edit: I tried ...
275 views

### What can we expect from the first accurate image of a black hole? (wich will be taken soon)

From recent news from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy: The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded 14 Million Euros to a team of European astrophysicists to construct the first ...
59 views

### What is meant by Electronic Beam Steering and how is it achieved?

I recently came across an article about the Murchison Wide Field Array which said directivity is achieved by Electronic Beam Steering and not by Mechanical methods. It would be helpful if someone can ...
192 views

### How would water waves behave in partial gravity?

Would an "indoor" pool of water on the Moon or on Mars behave differently than on Earth? Would the waves caused by a splash be higher or lower? Would they propagate faster or slower? Would boyance be ...
5k views

### How powerful a telescope would allow me to view the astronauts aboard ISS do a space-walk?

This arose from a comment posted against a question elsewhere on the stackexchange How powerful a telescope/binoculars would allow me to view the astronauts aboard the ISS do a space-walk? Aperture? ...
222 views

### How to calculate the movement of the object passing near other object in space?

Assume object A is moving through the space and is passing near the other object (B). Assume the gravitational influence of other objects can be ignored. How to find the equation describing the ...
86 views

### Present distances between planet. How can I find them?

It's "commonly known" how distant are our solar system planets from Sun. But we can't easily say that about planets, which distances can differ greatly, without some observations (or simulations, ...
151 views

### Can a black hole reach a limit where it can no longer attract more matter?

Can a black hole reach a limit where it can no longer attract more matter? If so, what happens with that black hole? Does the black hole die? Does the black hole decrease its size?
142 views

### 3D Positions of Nearby Stars

I have come across a number of star catalogs that list stars by right ascension and declination, along with other data such as magnitude. Is there a star catalog that lists the 3-D position of stars ...
130 views

### Why is every year the same number of days despite the gravity in the solar system?

I was just watching a Geoff Marcy talk on YouTube showing how they infer the presence of planets transiting distant stars. The supposed periodicity wasn't always quite regular from what I could see, ...
171 views

### What’s the object between the earth and the sun currently showing in Google maps?

If I select satellite imagery in Google maps and zoom out, the earth is shown in space. It shows light/dark regions correctly updated, but there’s an object between the earth and the sun. It looks too ...
66 views

### What is the connection between moons, rings, and gaps?

I was watching this video and they said that the rock probably has a moon. Is the reason they assume it has a moon is because there is a gap between the rings created by the moon's orbit around the ...
686 views

### Is it possible that all dark matter is made of rogue planets (free-floating planet)?

Is it possible that all dark matter is made of rogue planets (free-floating planet)? (and other stuff like asteroids or meteoroids)
264 views

### Build a high quality telescope from scratch [closed]

I am interested in building a high quality portable telescope from scratch in an attempt to better understand how telescopes work. What kind of materials do I need? How would I go about putting the ...
312 views

### What is the most extreme weather found on another planet?

On Venus, there is really inhospitable weather, as well as within the gas giants in our solar system. Are there examples of even more extreme weather on planets found in other solar systems than ours? ...
1k views

### Does the gravity of the planets affect the orbit of other planets in our solar system?

When one planet passes near another during its trip around the sun, does their gravitational pull is strong enough to disrupt noticeably each other's orbit ?
136 views

### Does the holographic principle contradict eternal inflation?

As it is for example explained here, Andrei Linde's chaotic inflation is among the potential winners or survivors of the spring cleaning induced by the potential detection of primoridal gravitational ...
81 views

### Space objects visible from earth

I recently saw the International Space Station without a telescope. Are there any other man-made space objects that can be seen using bare eyes?
262 views

### Why does time get slow near a black hole? [closed]

Why exactly does time get slow around a black hole? And does it provide a way to go into the future?
111 views

### A curious relationship between lunar periods and the solar year

Earlier today I was exploring the astronomy features on WolframAlpha, when I stumbled upon an intriguing numerical relationship involving the values for the lunar synodic and sidereal months. Using ...
271 views

### Is there a fundamental difference between a small galaxy, and a large star cluster?

For instance, If a large globular cluster were somehow ejected from its galaxy, and was observed by astronomers, would they call it a galaxy, or would there be characteristics of the star cluster that ...
141 views

### Do the E and B modes of the CMB polarization have anything to do with electric and magnetic fields?

As explained in this article, as the CMB is created from a vaiable (matter?) density $\kappa$ its gradient $\nabla \kappa = \vec{u}$ can be separated into a gradient and curl part, called the $E$ and ...
121 views

### Why isn't the dark energy getting decreased?

AS the articles on the web suggest, Dark energy is the reason behind the expansion of universe. If so, why isn't it getting used up in doing so. And consequently, the rate of expansion should reduce! ...
111 views

### How do scientists know if an Earth-like planet is really Earth-like?

I'm not sure how scientists determine that a planet is really an Earth-like planet. How do they do it?
177 views

### What limits the usable focal length of telescopes currently?

What barriers - of technology, physics and possibly economy (things that would be possible technologically but are simply too expensive) sets the upper bound on quality of telescopes for observation ...
218 views

### What are these faint streaks on the moon?

I was poking around this Gigapan image of the moon's north polar region, when I noticed this area: What is the source of these light streaks? For position reference, here's a zoomed-out shot (I ...
143 views

### why are galaxies different in color?

whether its in movies,television,real-life or some planetarium different galaxies are shown in different color. For ex:- Milky way is always seen in Blue where as Andromeda gives out a bit reddish ...
96 views

### Are we moving away or towards each other?

There are numerous theories about the shape of the Universe. I've read somewhere most probably in 'A Brief History of Time' that there is a possibility that the Universe is spherical. So is it ...
166 views

### How can we predict a Big Crunch when all galaxies are moving further apart?

I've read that the further away a Galaxy is from us the faster it moves away. By this logic how can scientists predict that there will eventually be a big crunch when every piece of matter is ...
56 views

### Simple life on asteroids

If there were an asteroid orbiting its star within the habitable zone and this asteroid contained liquid water, would it be possible for simple life such as bacteria to form?
110 views

### Is there another explanation, apart from the doppler effect, for the redshift observed in distant galaxies?

On episode 10 of the original Cosmos TV series, Carl Sagan mentions that some scientist don't agree that the redshift observed in distant galaxies is evidence of the big bang, stating that probably ...
155 views

### What is the probability that there is life on other planets?

I would like to know, from a mathematical point of view what is the probability that 1) There is organic life on other planets 2) There are advanced species like us or even greater than us on other ...
375 views

### What is Gravitational Lensing?

What is the effect known as gravitational lensing? How does it work? What objects would be able to cause this effect?
140 views

### What is the temperature of outerspace?

I want to know whether the temperature in Outer space is higher than earth's or cold.Is the temperature in outer space vary as it does on earth?
74 views

### Would it be possible to calculate the expected frequency of impact craters of all sizes on Earth

Can the expected frequency of all sizes of impact craters on Earth be calculated based on the preservation of impact craters seen on the Moon? Taking into account the difference in gravity and ...
315 views

### What is the relationship between the focal length and f number of a telescope compared to a guide scope?

How do you determine the optimal length of a guide scope for a given imaging telescope? I imagine it would have to take into consideration the pixel size of the guide scope, but would the aperture ...
62 views

### Is there online data on asteroid axial tilts?

I am hoping to find axial tilts for asteroids and also their spring and fall equinox. Some of the asteroids I'm interested in are: 4 Vesta, 1 Ceres, 24 Themis, 65 Cybele, 153 Hilda, 624 Hektor
58 views

### Why can primordial tensor perturbations of the CMB be ascribed to gravitational waves?

Why can primordial tensor perturbations of the CMB be ascribed to gravitational waves? Is this attribution unique, or are there other michanisms that could lead to the ecitation of tensor modes? In ...
50 views

### If I have amateur astrophotography image data that might be of scientific value, what should I do?

I have some image data that may be interesting to someone, somewhere, but I don't know who to contact or notify. I would imagine it would depend on the type of data, but maybe there is a central ...
312 views

### What causes Earth's gravity? [closed]

Why Earth is like a magnet? how can earth attract any object irrespective of what it is made of? What is the reason behind Celestial Body's gravity? i.e Sun,Jupiter,Moon etc.
313 views

### What exactly does outer space contain?

Does outer space contain any gases? Recently i watched a video on youtube,in which NASA installs a camera on a spacecraft.The footage shows some dust particles or some matter floating over the space ...
239 views

### Why are most planetary orbits nearly circular

In our solar system, with the exception of Pluto all planets follow a relatively circular orbit around the Sun, at the same inclination. They also all rotate in the same direction, none are ...
191 views

### What are the differences between TESS and PLATO exoplanet telescopes?

Within a year now it has been decided to launch TESS in 2017 and PLATO in 2024, space telecopes of NASA and ESA. They seem to have very similar science goals, both searching for transiting Earth sized ...