# All Questions

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### What came first: the Sun shining or the existence of helium?

This seems to be a chicken and egg problem, the sun begins shining due to hydrogen becoming helium, but it's odd that there was no helium initially without the stars. Is my logic flawed? (Note: ...
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### What kinds of technologies are required to directly image exoplanets

I have read that immensley powerful telescopes such as the European Extremley Large Telescope will be able to directly image the atmospheres of exoplanets, and even determine their rotation rates. I ...
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### How many arms does the Milky Way galaxy have?

How many arms does the Milky Way galaxy have and how is it determined?
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### Simulation packages or theory to work with gravitational collapse of massive molecular clouds?

So, I am getting interested in gravitational collapse of large molecular clouds that fragment and collapse into multiple stars. Are there well-known popular academic simulation packages that simulate ...
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### What type of star does theory predict should be the most massive?

The most massive known stars are Wolf-Rayet stars. However, as Wolf-Rayet stars do not appear to be the first stage of any star's lifecycle, I infer that whatever these Wolf-Rayet stars used to be ...
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### Why do dark objects look white from a distance? (Moon, Ceres, but not Earth!)

What makes the Moon shine white in the sky, although it seems to be as dark as asphalt? Earth's average albedo is 3 and 4 times that of the Moon and Ceres respectively (0.37 vs 0.12 and 0.09). But ...
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### axial tilt of uranus [duplicate]

Simple question: I read that the axial tilt of Uranus is 97.77 degrees. I don't understand why it would be this instead of 82.23 degrees the other way. It seems like saying that the Earth's axial tilt ...
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### What do cosmologists mean when they talk about “the running of the spectral index”?

All I know is that the spectral index is related to the CMB, and that it has to be slightly less than 1 to favor inflation.
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### Is there a connection between black holes and dark matter/energy?

Is there a spatial or gravitational relationship between black holes and dark matter/energy?
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### Is dark energy evenly spaced throughout Universe?

Are there certain parts of the Universe that are expanding faster than others? Is there anyway to definitively measure this?
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### LIGO and Fabry–Pérot interferometer

I was currently reading about how LIGO works, it uses the basic principle of a Michelson interferometer, and the laser it uses is infrared laser with 1064nm. so from what I know about interference and ...
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### What will the mass of the new galaxy be?

When the Milky Way galaxy collides with the Andromeda galaxy, what will the mass and volume of the new galaxy be?
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### Affordable night sky photography

As an amateur with limited budget, I'd be interested in taking photos of the night sky, trying to capture more detail than human eye armed with a lens of comparable parameters to what I have in my ...
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### Is it possible that the Sun has a binary partner (the Nemesis Theory) that has eluded detection?

I just recently learned about the theory that our Sun has a small companion star with a 26 million year orbit. This theory came about when it was realized that mass extinction events happened ...
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### Could we detect an earth-like planet around another star?

Could we detect an earth-like planet (e.g. similar distance from star, and similar size) with current planet finding techniques? If an earth-like planet were orbiting our nearest star, excluding the ...
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### Why do astronomers use supernova to measure distance in space?

Why can't the distances between our Sun and the celestial objects be measured directly and instead had to rely on looking around for supernova? Is these events frequent, evenly distributed and lasting ...
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### Why are the high density regions in outer space black holes?

The escape velocity of an object is given by the following formula. $$v_e=\sqrt{\frac{2GM}{r}}=\sqrt{\frac{2 \mu}{r}}= \sqrt{2gr}$$ As far as I am aware, the mass of the star which formed the black ...
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### North Pole Right Ascension/Declination to axial tilt conversion

Wikipedia , on several asteroid articles, claims that right ascension and declination of the North Pole can give you the axial tilt of the object. What formula is used to convert these 2 values into ...
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### What mechanism could have formed the Moon's Oceanus Procellarum rift-like gravity anomalies?

According to the NASA JPL web-report, Gravity Gradients Frame Oceanus Procellarum, a rift-like ring structure surrounding the Moon's Oceanus Procellarum has been detected as a gravity anomaly by the ...
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### Are galaxies moving away from us faster than before?

Are all galaxies moving away from us at constant speed even those that may be moving in our direction as the space is being formed? How does nothingness appear to push matter? A black hole sucks as ...
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### How many sun-like stars are there in the universe?

After yesterday's announcement of the Kepler telescope finding a huge amount of newly observed exoplanets, i saw a headline claiming that as much as 22% of sun like stars in the universe have planets ...
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### Expansion of Space

If Space is expanding between the Galaxies then why isn't it also expanding between the Stars within the Galaxies as well ? In fact why isn't Space expanding within our Solar System ?
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### Does “Dark Matter” really exist?

Does dark matter really exist or is just a made-up theory in order to cover up the loopholes in the Big Bang theory, and also to explain why universe is expanding at an accelerated rate?
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### How to calculate the expected surface temperature of a planet

I'm writing a program to generate solar systems but I'm having trouble calculating the expected temperature of a planet. I have found a formula to calculate this, but I haven't been able to get a ...
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### What's the mass of the interstellar neighborhood of the Sun?

What's approximatively the mass of the interstellar neighborhood of the Sun ? (for example the neighborhood of radius 50 light-years). Remark: The mass of the observable matter should be completed ...
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### Is there any way a planet could form independent of a star?

I just recently heard that there are currently no theoretical models that support planet formation without a star, but I can't remember where. So, I thought I would request all of your expertises. ...
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### Orbital resonances and position of planets

I am interested in quick generation of planetary systems for programs similar to Space Engine or Pioneer Space Simulator. As far as I understand, formation of planets is a complex process and the ...
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### visualisation of the universe's expansion

in physics we were learning about the universe and the big bang. we were being told that everything came from one point and 'exploded' outwards, and is continuing to expand. I felt that this ...
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### Is it likely OMG particle (and those like it) originate from alien spacecraft propulsion systems? [closed]

Is it likely that Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) like the OMG particle come from alien spacecraft propulsion systems? I realize this is a bit "out there", but my reasoning behind it is that ...
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### How do the orbits of Nu Scorpii and AR Cassiopeiae work?

I apologize for the way this question is worded but I don't think I know the proper verbiage. Basically, I want to know how the stars orbit one another in the two septuple star systems. For example, ...
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### brown dwarfs and planets

As far as I know, a brown dwarf is a 'star' whose core never underwent a fusion reaction, so it never became a star. So I was wondering if, appart from orbiting a star, is there any difference between ...
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### app to locate star by coordinates

I've named a star and would love to be able to find it in the sky - is there an app I can use to locate stars given a specific coordinate?
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### Who discovered what set of factors is responsible for visibility of celestial bodies on Earth's daytime sky?

Visibility of a celestial body on the sky during the day depends on a number of factors - if I recall correctly: the body's magnitude, Seeing, Sky brightness, and probably some others I have missed. ...
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### How to calculate the new orbit after a instantaneous change in a well defined initial one?

Say one has a simple two body system (and one body is much more massive than the other, for example a star, planet system) where all the quantities about it are know, that is the eccentricity, masses, ...
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### Does rotation affect gravitational lines of force

I was reading about rotating pulsars and other more-massive objects spinning at absurd speeds (hundreds of revolutions per second), and there was one point of which I was not clear. Does a rotation ...
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### Why is there so much methane in space?

In school I learned that methane is organic matter and that it is a possible product of crude oil refinement. However, recently I read that Uranus has huge methane storms and the Saturn moon Titan ...
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### Looking for help in understanding how black holes can move

I'm looking for help in understanding how black holes can move through space. This is probably a trivial question for anyone who knows astronomy, but probably due to my lack of education on the topic, ...
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### Why are Hubble images “Cut”

Whenever you take a look at a photo that is taken by hubble, Lets say M87 or Eagle Nebula or maybe Ultra Deep space field, The Image is always "Cut" Like this : or this I want to know reason ...
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### How long does it take Dawn to orbit Ceres?

I haven´t been able to find the orbit time of Dawn around Ceres. Do you know how long it takes?
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### What is the term for astronomical objects outside the solar system that are smaller than dwarf planets?

Asteroids and comets only seem to refer to masses within the solar system, and it seems unclear whether planetesimal does.
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### How are the photos of the Milky Way taken?

We are inside the Milky Way, right? So, how are we able to take photos of the Milky Way?
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### How can we see the Milky Way Galaxy when we are already in it? [duplicate]

How can we see the Milky Way Galaxy when we are already in it? I have seen lots of pictures of Milky way galaxy. Consider yourself being in a room, how can you see it from out when you are already ...
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### Supernova explosion nearby

A nearby star has crossed Chandrasekhar's limit. How do we come to know when it will undergo supernova explosion? Or has it already undergone supernova explosion?
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### Angular momentum in planetary disk formation

Reading about the formation of planetary disks, one of the major problems, it seems like, is the evacuation of angular momentum. Aparently planets can't form with the amount o angular momentum the ...
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### Solar System formation, considering its and universe's age

It's been said that the Sun is 4.6 billion years old, and the complete Solar System is of a similar age. The class of stars to which the Sun belongs seems to be quite common. Stars of its class can ...
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### Calculating Postition of ISS / Hubble in space

How do I calculate the positions of above satellite in space ?
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### Age of the universe and time dilation

Given our knowledge and the standard cosmological model, we estimate that the age of the universe is about 13.7 billion years old. How much sense does it make to talk about the age of the ...
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### Why can't we see distant galaxies with the naked eye?

If light keeps travelling in a straight line, why can't we see distant galaxies with the naked eye? Surely if you stared long enough, the light from them would eventually hit your eye? I apologize if ...