All Questions

147 views

Is there a 'South Star'?

The star Polaris is commonly known as the Northern Star because it always points North. This being said is there a South star that always points south?
93 views

When will the Milky Way “arrive” at the Great Attractor, and what all happen then?

The Great Attractor is described as a location to towards which the Milky Way, along with all other galaxies in the Laniakea Supercluster are moving. How long will it take for the Milky Way to ...
50 views

Hypothetical scenario, two nearby black holes

I've always wondered what would happen if a hypothetical scenario, two black holes meet, with similar proportions: Maybe one swallow the other one? Or would make a bigger one between them.
25 views

What is the radius of observable universe- 46 billion LY or 200 yottameters?

I have found two answers for the radius of the observable universe. Wikipedia (and other places, including this site) say approximately 46 billion LY. I am researching this to study for the National ...
131 views

Contradict the expansion of the universe?

Lets say that we observe in a distant galaxy cluster, which in all the galaxies move far away from us. and here we see in the same cluster a galaxy that move away from us in a much lower velocity ...
23 views

During what time of the year can Centaurus be seen from Tokyo?

During exactly what dates of the year can the Centaurus constellation be seen from Tokyo, Japan? And what is the ideal date for viewing it from Tokyo? I found on a website that it can been seen ...
22 views

Save current state in ds9?

After fooling around with a FITS file(s) (e.g. setting scale, changing color) is it possible to save the session such that there is a file associated with all those tweaks the next time I open it up? ...
34 views

Why is sodium such a common ion for in ion tails?

I was doing research about ion tails of planetary bodies and noticed that ion tails composed of sodium were common. For example, Mercury and the Moon both have ion tails made of sodium. Why is sodium, ...
139 views

Is the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field image representative of the entire sky?

The Hubble ultra-deep field image is a photograph of an area of sky equivalent to a 1mm x 1mm piece of paper held a metre away from the eye (one thirteen millionth of the entire sky). It contains an ...
45 views

Could the universe have evolved differently?

Given the initial conditions at the Big Bang, could our universe have evolved any differently? In other words, did the initial conditions predetermine every stage in the evolution of the universe to ...
67 views

Is dark energy constant?

Does the "amount" of dark energy in the universe change over time, or is it constant? The dark energy I am asking about is the rate of acceleration of the universe's expansion.
29 views

How LOFAR pass through the ionosphere?

The LOFAR project open a new window in the universe's study because it allows to receive low frequences of the universe that we could not get because of the ionosphere. But I'm wondering how can ...
43 views

Birthdate differences calculation relative to earths orbit duration

I have got a question as i am trying to figure out what the real difference between the birthdate of my friend and me is. I am born on 1983 6th February 7 am. My Friend is born on 1984 7th February 1 ...
15 views

Estimating the tangential and cross component of the galaxy's shear using Gnomonic projection

I would like to know how I can estimate the tangential and cross component of the galaxy's shear using Gnomonic projection of the right ascension and declination ...
25 views

Beta profile fit of Virgo cluster gas?

I'm looking for the parameters $r_c$, $\rho_0$ and $\beta$ in a $\beta$-profile fit of the Virgo cluster's ICM density. I just can't find a reference for it. Unlike for Coma (Abell 1656) where it's in ...
69 views

Fate of the Spiral Arms of the Milky Way and Andromeda

In a few billion years, the Milky Way and Andromeda will collide. Chances are, there won't be many spectacular stellar collisions, and there's a pretty good chance that the Solar system (and most ...
71 views

Thought experiment about the outskirts of the universe [closed]

Suppose I aim at some object that is 13 billion light years away from Earth. Let's assume I have a twin that pilots a ship that travels in infinite speed, meaning that he can reach that object and ...
396 views

I have 2 questions related to spiral galaxies. Firstly, how did the arms form? Why would the stars accumulate into those specific areas? And secondly, why are they still intact? The inner parts of ...
90 views

Why aren't the farthest objects close to each other?

The last years we find some objects like this : MACS0647-JD which are more than 13 billion light-years away from us. This means that the picture we get was created only some million years after the ...
65 views

How to identify stars in photographs?

I can look at a star chart and identify things like constellations in the sky. But if I take a picture with my DSLR camera (35mm with a decent zoom lens, no astronomy specific optics), I run into ...
127 views

With gravitational lensing, is it possible to mathematically compute the correct image of the galaxy that is being distorted?

There's been another report of gravitational lensing in the news. Wikipedia has a good image of an example of gravitational lensing taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. This brings me to wonder ...
51 views

Can the martian dichotomy (SIH) and the moon's formation (GIH) be related?

If we assume that the Single Impact Hypothesis regarding the martian dichotomy (wikipedia) and the Giant Impact Hypothesis regarding the Moon's formation (wikipedia) are true, then is it possible that ...
114 views

How was an infrared picture of the entire universe taken?

(click to enlarge) How was this picture of the supposed entire universe taken in infrared? Also, why does it seem as though almost all of the matter is in a line formation over the center? It makes ...
104 views

How do black holes evaporate?

Will black holes evaporate, if they evaporate? When and why do they evaporate? What are the conditions for evaporation? Under what principle do they evaporate?
126 views

What is the relative time difference between us and a star system in outer layer of our galaxy?

Just curious to know what will be the time difference between someone living on the outer layer of our galaxy and us, considering the known facts that Time is relative to gravity Our sun goes around ...
24 views

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 ...
33 views

What is the exact position of the Large Magellanic Cloud?

I am not able to visualize the position of the LMC and have not found a satisfactory explanation... Can someone please answer it this way? Relative to a ray joining the Earth to the ...
107 views

Would bagging an asteroid destroy valuable science about it?

NASA has a plan called "Asteroid Redirect Mission option A". It would robotically put an asteroid of a few meters diameter in a bag and push it into reach of astronauts for thorough examination. 44 ...
57 views

Original Hubble diagram units incorrect?

Figure 1 from Hubble 1929 has velocity with units of km. Is this just a typo or was there a reason the plot is printed this way?
82 views

What did I see streaking across the sky last night?

I was enjoying a casual naked eye view of the summer sky last night around midnight in a new jersey beach town. The sky was pretty clear for around here.The Milkyway was just visible and there was no ...
44 views

World line coordinate finiteness

If you trace two particles' world line backwards in time, according to current theory, both objects should converge at big bang. Would both objects arrive there simultaneously? Another way of asking ...
264 views

Why do (most of) the planets rotate counterclockwise, i.e. the same way the Sun does?

Referring to the mechanisms explaining the solar system formation and to the initial rotation of the gaseous cloud that collapsed, I understand easily why the planets orbit the Sun the same way this ...
70 views

Can the Gaia telescope detect small temporarily captured asteroids near its Lagrange orbit?

The Gaia space telescope is in a Lissajous orbit around the Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2. The orbit period is about 180 days and the size of the orbit is 263,000 x 707,000 x 370,000 km. It has been ...
16 views

Any results from the B-mode CMB polarization measurements?

Why is the relation between primordial gravitational waves of the early universe, and the minor polarization deviations of the cosmical microwave background? AFAIK the CMB is coming from the 300000 ...
179 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 ...
52 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 ...
50 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 ...
34 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 ...
106 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 ...
86 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, ...
57 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 ...
64 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 ...
124 views

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

Why don't the planets glow like stars?
135 views

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 ...
36 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?
28 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 ...
71 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 ...
68 views

Multiple apparent lunar eclipses last night

I saw something very strange last night that I'm hoping someone can help me explain. I was sitting on my roof with a night-cap at about 3am last night. The moon, about the last quarter, was low in the ...