All Questions

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Why does Saturn have both moons and rings?

From my understanding, a ring can form around a planet when a moon gets too close to its Roche limit, and gets ripped appart by the planet's gravity pull. That makes sense to me, but I don't ...
12 views

What is an “arc” spectrum ?

I sometimes hear about astronomers using an arc spectrum to calibrate observations. For example a "He-Ar arc spectrum". What is an "arc" in this context? I assume it's nothing got to do with angles ...
24 views

Name for 1-e and 1+e terms?

In several equations of orbital elements (such as the determination of true anomaly from mean anomaly), the terms 1-e and 1+e appear. These are the ratios of the orbital periapsis and apoapsis to the ...
23 views

What does an Einstein-De Sitter universe look like?

I know an Einstein-De Sitter universe is a "flat" universe, i.e. with a K ("bendiness", sorry, don't really know what to call it in English) factor of 0, but does that entail anything as to its ...
44 views

Simulate an orbit with orbital elements

I want to simulate the orbits of the planets from our solar system. I want to use orbital elements to calculate the current position(xyz) at a time t. The simulation doesn't have to be too exact, but ...
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Rings around a smaller, close-in planet?

Is it possible for a small, close-to-star planet to have a stable ring system--icy or otherwise? A smaller planet means the rings would have to be closer to the planet, which means the radial shear ...
52 views

Ambiguity in Earth's “Tilt”

It’s well-known that the axial tilt of the Earth (with respect to the ecliptic) is about 23.4 degrees. However, two angles is needed to specify the orientation of any rigid body, so it’s unclear to me ...
269 views

Why do certain massive stars leave no remnants?

Mass and metallicity are the two main determinants for a star's fate. This is simple enough. What's more complicated is how exactly these determine the star's fate. For example, you can see in this ...
58 views

Are we sure no planets inside Mercury orbit now?

Currently most explorations about new planets are pointing to area outside Neptune orbit, how about inside Mercury orbit? Can we say there is no planets inside Mercury orbit surely?
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Can a star orbit around multiple planets or a planet with massive moons?

Note: I'm not talking about a star orbiting around a single or lonely planet :) I know a star orbiting a planet is almost impossible because if a planet is more massive than a star, that "planet" ...
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How many stars are in the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy?

The Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy is a small satellite Galaxy of the Milky Way. There are many such satellites galaxies and I'm trying to compile basic data on them. However, I can't find an estimate for the ...
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Stellarium script star of bethlehem

Does anyone out there have a script to replicate the star of Bethlehem. In this case meaning a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter near Regulus.
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Can quantum entanglement cause nucleosynthesis to happen in stars?

Even if there isn't enough heat and energy in the star to cause nucleosynthesis, could atoms quantum entangle to create a new atomic nuclei? Or would it be quantum tunneling - if this is possible?
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Can we simulate Earth's gravity in space?

Earth gravity is 9.8 $ms^{-2}$ Gravity on ISS(international space station) is 8.2 $ms^{-2}$ approx. As per this ...
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Alignment of Semi-Major Axis of Orbits

So I'd like to ask whether the semi-major axis of planetary orbits are aligned? Logically, they shouldn't be, but many websites act as if they are. If they're not aligned, what's the angle between the ...
33 views

The Earth based Space/Zero Gravity/Vacuum Chamber invention is way overdue.WHY? [on hold]

I ponder why this invention replicating a vacuum of open space where Zero gravity can be experienced here on Earth in a chamber of some sort has not been created yet.My only speculation of why this ...
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Are high-speed galactic collisions survivable?

This is a hypothetical question, but it really is meant as a vivid way of asking about the affects of high-speed galactic collisions. The November 27 APOD showed the Cheshire Cat galaxy group, and the ...
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How (un)stable are the Lagrangian points 1, 2 and 3?

A couple questions, please: I know that the Lagrangian points 1, 2 and 3 are unstable and special Lissajous orbits plus some station-keeping are required to place a spacecraft around them. But I was ...
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Software to convert RA and DEC into ALT and AZ

I have implemented the formulas to convert AR and Dec into altitude and Azimuth in C++ following the book Practical Astronomy with your Calculator or Spreadsheet 4th Edition. In the book there is an ...
63 views

What is the scale of things you can see with gravitational lensing?

I'm trying to understand the examples of gravity lensing (using the general relativity property of large masses to bend light like a lens). Most of the examples I see are of some galaxy (presumably ...
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Can an SMBH recycle dark matter into energy?

I just had a conceptual question, hopefully it makes for some really interesting answers. I was wondering, as most galaxies have an SMBH at their centre (see Kormandy & Richstone 1995; Richstone ...
38 views

A black hole that doesn't take in matter?

According to List of Common Misconceptions by Wikipedia, under the heading of astronomy, this line can be found: A black hole can act like a "cosmic vacuum cleaner" and pull a substantial ...
39 views

Calculation of hour angle

I need to determine Right Ascension and Declination from Azimuth and Altitude, working in C#. The problem is that the formula for calculating hour angle, for some reason, doesn't work. Here's the ...
54 views

A star a black hole and planets around them

Imagine we have a black hole and a star. There are very close to each other so black hole slowly consumes the star. It is possible to have planets in this system, and for them not to be consumed by ...
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Would a satellite in geosynchronous orbit between the earth and moon track across the sky together?

On Nov. 25 at 2:30a.m. from southern California while viewing the moon with a 70mm D x 400mm F telescope a point of light was seen at about the 7 o'clock position below the moon. As viewed the point ...
36 views

What was the largest telescope ever fitted with an eyepiece

Serious modern telescopes use CCDs to capture the results. This makes it convenient to process or display the results halfway around the world. However, there is something visceral about looking ...
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How are the gaps filled in images captured by CCD arrays?

Large telescopes don't use a single CCD; they use arrays of them. Since CCDs can't be seamlessly joined, this means that every captured image must have gaps. But, the resulting images almost never ...
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Plausible? Brown Dwarfs are rogue celestial bodies because they absorb all light due to their thick layer of matte black soot [on hold]

My theory of why Brown Dwarfs are the rogue celestial bodies that travel through galaxies without a set course. My first theory would be their matte black in color due to a layer of soot.Light does ...
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Ejected planets during the early stages of the formation of a solar system?

This is similar to a previously asked question, but I am just asking about theory rather than observational evidence. Assuming there were a much larger number of protoplanets in the early solar ...
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Venus transending behind the Earths moon December 7, 2015

Observing from Earth what are the odds thats Venus does not line up in conjunction with earths moon and does not transend behind the moon but slightly below or above with a complete visual of venus ...
30 views

Gas halo of our Milky Way Galaxy

This question relates to a diffuse hot gas halo of our Milky Galaxy. I've read that there is a hot diffuse halo of gas surrounding our Galaxy (NED, Caltech) I was wondering why such a halo can exist? ...
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If any object could become a black hole, could any object become a neutron star?

A black hole doesn't necessarily need to form from a star; theoretically, it could form from any extremely dense object. In fact, many astronomers differentiate certain black holes, like supermassive ...
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If there are neutron stars, would most stars be considered “proton stars”?

For example, the Sun is a giant sphere of positively charged plasma. About 72% of the elements in it are protium. This means that these protium atoms would have had to lose their electrons, right? If ...
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Why do spectroscopic binaries have approximate circular orbits?

So for an assignment I have to answer the question what I can conclude concerning the shape of the orbit, knowing that it is both an eclipsing and spectroscopic binary. Now, I think the answer I ...
21 views

How to calculate the mean molecular weight of the Sun

I have a homework question in which I need to estimate a parameter known as $\beta_{P}$ and also the core temperature, both for the Sun. However, prior to doing this I need to know the mean molecular ...
20 views

What would the cost be of visiting an asteroid?

I'm trying to think through what the cost would be of an unmanned mission to a nearby asteroid. To me it seems like the high-level costs would be the fixed cost of the "spaceship" itself (including ...
36 views

How were the orbits of planets first mapped out?

I'd like to know how the orbits of planets were first 'mapped out' and to understand the maths behind it. e.g. How do we know what position in space a planet will be at certain time so that spacecraft ...
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How can I determine line luminosities from equivalent width measurements?

I have a set of equivalent width measurements for different emission lines. How can I use them in order to determine the corresponding line luminosities?
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Why does hydrogen ionization happen in HII regions?

Why does hydrogen ionization happen in HII regions? Why is the hydrogen there ionized?
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Does Dark Matter affect the motion of the Solar System?

Would dark matter have a similar effect on the Solar System as it does on the Milky Way? I'd imagine it could help hold together some of the Solar System bodies or at least affect their motion, right? ...
51 views

Does the mass of the Earth change?

Every day, babies are born and people grow, which makes their respective masses greater. However, this change in mass (should) come out of the food that they consume - it is used as energy and thus ...
49 views

Looking back in time by looking further away

I have been pondering the question of how we can look back to the state of the early universe for some time. So I came here and found, to my delight, that several such questions have been asked, such ...
703 views

When was the term “orbit” (in the modern sense) first used and by whom?

Wikipedia coyly suggests that some notions and views kept circulating (apparently since Adam and Eve) until finally Kepler, of all people, ... etc. I find this hard to believe. Please elucidate.
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Does this black hole magnetohydrodynamics equation even superficially make sense?

My question is about the journal paper mentioned in an Academia Stack Exchange post. Please understand that this paper has never been posted on arXiv, and I can provide only a link whose content is ...
63 views

why hasn't Nasa gone back to our Moon? [closed]

why has not Nasa gone back to our Moon since the first landing on the moon
3k views

How can we focus radio telescopes on a star when the earth is spinning?

Reading about the Star KIC 8462852, it has been said that the SETI project turned its radio telescopes towards the star to search for extra terrestrial radio signals as the star had strange ...
61 views

Is time itself speeding up universally?

Time moves more slowly near a mass than in relatively empty space. For example, I get that an observer would see someone falling into a black hole to appear to move more slowly and get "stuck" on the ...
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What's the difference between the apparent horizon and event horizon of a black hole?

The Wikipedia page for apparent horizon is pretty sketchy and requires some GR knowledge. Is there any simple definition?