# All Questions

943 views

### Why do astronomers like green laser pointers? [closed]

When I've been to Astronomy-nights for the public at the local observatory, they always used green lasers to point things out. Why is there such a preference for green lasers? What's wrong with red ...
156 views

### Time after sunset until star can be seen

Given a star's apparent location and apparent magnitude, how how many degrees below the horizon must the sun be for the star to be visible to the naked eye for an observer on Earth at a specified ...
172 views

### Why do some celestial bodies have atmospheres, and not others?

Question is rather self-explanatory. An answer touching upon how/why atmospheres are formed in the first place would be ideal as well. An example of such astral bodies would be The Earth and it's ...
67 views

### Star System Formation questions

I'm making a game in which I'd like to randomly generate star systems. Which is cool. The trouble I'm having is working out exactly what limits I need to place on the generation. So far, the ...
292 views

### Can we see the Big Bang happen if we look far enough?

The observable universe is constantly expanding as more light from the Big Bang reaches us. This light has been travelling for billions of years, so we are looking at the universe as it was a few ...
246 views

### How many light years away is Earth from the closest outer edge of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way?

How many light years is Earth away from the closest outer edge of the supermassive black hole in Sagittarius A* at the center of the Milky Way? I don't mean the distance to the center of the galaxy, ...
143 views

### Which spiral arm of the Milky Way is Kepler-62 in?

I am trying to find out which spiral arm of the Milky Way the star Kepler-62 and its planetary system are in. All I can find by Google searching is that it is part of the Lyra constellation, but I ...
289 views

### How did the reionization epoch make the universe “transparent”?

I've been reading about the reionization epoch of the universe, and it isn't entirely clear to me. As I understand it, very shortly after the big bang the universe was ionized, with the electrons ...
1k views

### Why don't planets give off their own light? [closed]

Why don't the planets glow like stars?
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### Will an observer falling into a black hole be able to witness any future events in the universe outside the black hole?

I know someone or something sucked into a black hole could not survive, but is the bending of light so immense that an observer falling into a black hole will be able to witness any future events in ...
45 views

### Can solar luminosity & activity be predicted?

Can a star's luminosity and its activity, solar flares and sunspots, be predicted? If so, with what accuracy & precision?
34 views

### What are possible methods of discerning a starburst AGN composite galaxy?

I'm currently working on an independent project that involves discerning starburst galaxies that are themselves within active galaxies. I would assume radio observations would be best to discern star ...
107 views

### What's an order-of-magnitude main sequence star look like?

I'm looking for a very rough, order-of-magnitude approach to the main sequence. What I mean is, I have a spherically-symmetric hydrogen distribution. I'm looking to get a rough approximation for ...
99 views

### What type of energy is escaping from black-hole's poles?

Following this article, it is stated that: As a star drifts too close to a supermassive black hole, intense tidal stresses rip the star to shreds. As this happens, the shredded material will ...
74 views

### What is star composition after formation

Most descriptions of star ignition go something like... The star reaches a critical mass and ignites, blowing away the surrounding material. The most obvious question would be "Why are stars not all ...
283 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 ...
74 views

### Data for red-shifting

I am looking for basic data regarding red-shifting that comes with reliable measure of distance of the emitting star.
147 views

### Can we find out whether early Venus was Earth-like or not?

It has been speculated that Venus billions of years ago could've had a much different atmosphere with liquid water on its surface and possibly life. Partly thanks to the cooler young Sun. But is it ...
97 views

### The face of the moon at moonset

It appears that the face of the moon "rotates" clockwise from the time the moon rises to the time it sets. Tycho's crater seems more to the left and the "Rabbits head" looks like it's facing down ...
71 views

### the length of second, minute or hour, what defines the time of exo planetary bodies

we measure time based on earth and earth mass\gravity plays a role in the measurement ? so how and what would be time if not earth time on other exo planets since they will be having different ...
59 views

### Is Rosetta changing the theory of comets?

Rosetta is now arriving at Comet 67P. Other comets have been analyzed to some degree (Giotto, Deep Space 1, Deep Impact, etc.) So my question is... where I can study the up-to-date theory of ...
394 views

### Is it possible for a person to not see the new moon at different places on earth?

It is known that theoretically we see the same moon phase everywhere on the earth, but practically I see that people are unable to observe the 0.8% waxing crescent at different places on earth. This ...
89 views

### Telescope on polluted environment

this one bothering me,to buy a telescope. I live in a city,unfortunately with dust and polluted air, is there any affect in viewing a nice capture of our galaxy? Or i need to buy a special telescope?
91 views

### Starting out in practical astronomy [closed]

I want to start observing the night sky, what advice would you give to get started?
257 views

### Contradiction between Theory of Relativity and Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation?

Newton's Law of Universal Gravity states that an object will accelerate constantly as it falls. Let's assume an object falling into a black hole. According to Newton's Law, when it reaches the event ...
3k views

### Finding the solar noon based on longitude and latitude?

Please could someone advise the best method of finding the solar noon based upon location? http://pveducation.org/pvcdrom/properties-of-sunlight/suns-position The stuff on here has been helpful but ...
121 views

### Infinite universe? How? [duplicate]

So it seems the overall thought is that the universe is infinite. I don't get how. Most depictions I read mention something to the effect of "at 1^-20 seconds the universe was the size of _". ...
137 views

### How is space-time bent by black holes?

I just read When a star becomes a black hole, does its gravitational power become stronger? and it confused me a bit; I always thought black holes are supermassive and that is why they bend ...
4k views

### 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 ...
57 views

### Under Earth's gravitational pull, how dense would an object have to be to reach its Schwarzschild Radius?

The Schwarzschild Radius is a theoretical radius, that if the mass of the object was compressed into that certain radius, the escape speed from the surface of the compressed object would equal the ...
90 views

### Electron Degeneracy Pressure and the Pauli Exclusion Principle

I have read that what keeps white dwarfs from gravitational collapse is electron degeneracy pressure. How does this pressure prevent further collapse, and how is it related to the Pauli Exclusion ...
261 views

### Name of area close to Local Bubble?

The following image is a map of the area surrounding the Local Bubble. One side of the image is 1700 lightyears. From the Sun to the Hyades (immediately below the sun) it is 150 lightyears. The local ...
105 views

### How to polar align an equatorial mounted telescope when you are close to the equator?

I recently moved to southern Mexico (16 degrees N) and I wonder what would be the best way to align my EQ telescope when the polar star is not visible?
203 views

### Derivation of the formula for longitude of ascending node for a satellite

I've been looking into the document IS-GPS-200H to understand how to calculate satellite location in the ECEF coordinate. I am having problem understanding the formula to derive $\Omega$, the ...
736 views

### Difference between quasar and Active Galactic Nuclei?

Are there any differences between quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN)? As I understand it, they are both caused by extremely luminous electromagnetic emission from material accreting onto a ...
2k views

### Is a white dwarf hotter than a Red Giant?

From what I've read, white stars are hotter than red ones. But a white dwarf would have just heavy elements to fuse, so shouldn't it be less bright?
587 views

### Do we expect life to develop only in certain regions of the galaxy?

If I understand correctly, the Earth lies in an area of the galaxy - the "local bubble" - that is relatively free of dust and gases and where no new stars are being born. What is the current theory ...
96 views

### Date and time system on moons

Supposedly, if humans were to establish a colony on one of the moons of a planet (such as gas giants in our own solar system), how could we possibly design date and time system? On Earth, we define ...
317 views

### Why do the rings around the Gas Giants get their 'ring' shape?

In our Solar System, all the gas giants have ring systems. However, why do these rings form rings and not a cloud of debris around the planet?
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### Hour angle sunrise calculation problem

I am trying to program a sunrise/sunset calculator using this formula tutorial. If you follow the steps, eventually you get to this formula for "H" (the "hour angle"): \$H = \arccos( [\sin(-0.83) - ...
115 views

### Are multiple satellites required to handle geostationary orbits?

Do geostationary satellites need to have the equator as the plane of rotation, and the earth's centre to be the centre of rotation? Can it rotate over, say, the Tropic of Cancer, focusing on a single ...
659 views

### Is it a coincidence that both the sun and moon look of same size from earth?

The sun is huge when compared to moon. Despite the huge difference in their size and distance from earth, Is it purely coincidental that they both look almost the same from earth?
87 views

### What is CMB radiation doing to the universe?

It is said that due to CMB radiation our universe has been expanding? Firstly what lead the universe to expand? What do scientists mean by dark energy? Will energy convert into matter?
6k views

### Why don't stars move in the night-sky as the moon does?

I want to know why don't we see a change in the position of stars during the night while we do see a change in the position of the moon. I've checked other online sources and some answers say that it ...
204 views

### Connection between Earth, Moon, Theia, and astroid belt?

Are there other fragments aside from the Moon that resulted from the collision of Earth and "Theia" (as it's called in recent main-stream press stories)? And if not, why not? And what happened to ...
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### Birth and Evolution of Millisecond Pulsars

How are millisecond pulsars formed, and what is the evolutionary track of a millisecond pulsar?
1k views

### Why don't we have 2 Summers and 2 Winters?

Due to Earth's elliptical orbit, its distance from Sun varies by almost 5 million Kilometers (147 million Kilometers at closest point & 152 million Kilometers at farthest point, i.e. almost 3% of ...
132 views

### seasons elongating and shortening

I have heard of years with longer summers and winters and shorter springs and falls and vice versa because of a change in the earths axis. Is this from the procession that causes the season switch ...