All Questions

2 views

How to deal with shifting CCD bias (zero exposure) levels?

The median values of the bias frames coming from our teaching telescope shift up or down with each capture. For example: ...
4 views

What is the reason for the dispute over the variation of core mass with heavy metal abundance?

In Metal-Poor Stars IV: The Evolution of Red Giants, Rood writes The differences in the results of these papers are large enough to introduce appreciable uncertainties into the study of the ...
150 views

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 ...
44 views

How was all the matter curled up inside a singularity during big bang ?

If the singularity had infinite mass, temperature and density, then it should curve space and time but there was no space-time before big bang. So where did the singularity come to existence without ...
2k views

Is Pluto still a dwarf planet?

Recent news seem to suggest that astronomers are arguing about whether Pluto should become a planet again. However, I cannot find an official source for this. Is this actually true?
55 views

What must/do astronomers reveal beyond their academic papers?

Academic papers often make claims about observational data and results from computations. The papers only refer to names of data sources (such as an observatory) and of mathematical methods without ...
81 views

What study profiles could land me the job of astronomer?

I realize there are very few to none universities that offer direct specialization of astronomy. If I aspired to be make astronomy my career choice, I'd likely have to pick something like physics and ...
318 views

I'd like to become an astronomer. What experience do I need? [closed]

I think I'd like to become an astronomer. What degrees and training/experience do I need to become one? I've heard I should take science and mathematics, but I don't know which specific courses I ...
38 views

Where can I find the image of MY Camelopardalis?

In this news article, it says The image captured by the telescope at the Calar Alto Observatory in southern Spain, reveal the physical properties of each of the stars including temperature and ...
121 views

How much mass will the Sun have when it becomes a white dwarf?

In 4 billion years, when our Sun sheds all of its outer gas layers and turns into a white dwarf, how much mass will the white dwarf have compared to what the sun has today? Will the planets still ...
73 views

Can the Milky Way be seen with the naked eye? Does this apply to any galaxy? If yes, then how and when?

I have seen different pictures in a different community to showcasing the Milky Way. I can never tell whether it's edited or it's the real picture. Actually, I can never see any galaxy as such by with ...
12 views

coordinates in ICRF

The International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF) is defined based on distant quasars and the origin is the barycentre of the Solar system. So, how can we measure the coordinates (\alpha, \delta) of ...
28 views

why are solar telescopes built on lakes? the site differnece between a solar and an optical telescope

According to the wikipedia page big bear, water can cool the observatory. Big bear is in the southern California. It is better to build it on a cold high mountain with stable and clear atmosphere? ...
100 views

What are the azimuths of the planets' orbits?

I am creating a virtual solar system model and I want it to be as realistic as possible (e.g. orbits are ellipses, not circles, and orbits are oriented correctly, not all coplanar). In order for me ...
130 views

Given a date obtain latitude and longitude where is the sun zenith

Searching is easy to find terminator line (frontier between day and night) or the position of the sun in the sky given a position on the earth and a time; but I can't find how to obtain where is the ...
26 views

Types of Exoplanets

We discover vastly more exoplanets, that are gas giants that orbit their parent star very closely, than small terrestrial planets that are more distant to their sun. Could this be due to the methods ...
286 views

Is it possible to break apart a neutron star?

I was inspired by this question on Physics, as well as this question right here on Astronomy. Neutron stars are tightly bound together as neutron degenerate matter. They're very massive and have a ...
11 views

How is the age of a star on the Henyey track calculated?

I was reading Stellar Evolution in Early Phases of Gravitational Contraction, by Chushiro Henyey, where he writes, If $L \propto R^{-\alpha}$ along the path, the age of a star from the time when ...
26 views

For how many bodies can there be a stable orbit with no very heavy central body?

The question is a bit vague, but let me explain: Take for example 2 bodies of the same mass. They can orbit around their centre of mass/gravity. Is something like this possible with multiple ...
11 views

Probability of finding life-supporting exoplanets

We've found over a thousand exoplanets by now, but how many of them could support life? What percentage of newly found planets are potentially life-harbouring? Or haven't we found any exoplanets that ...
832 views

How does moonrise/moonset azimuth vary with time?

In my tenacious attempts to observe moonrise (surprisingly difficult in a poor weather heavily urbanized hilly area with frequent bad smog, with busy work schedule and a bicycle) I was frequently ...
57 views

Longest and shortest wavelength

What is the longest and what is the shortest wavelength of light? How fast would a light-emitting object have to recede in order to shift the frequency of light to increase the wavelength from the ...
9 views

How would time travel work with a man made wormhole, with one side of it sent on a rocket at light speed and then returned to Earth? [on hold]

I just watched an episode of the History channel series The Universe: Collection, this particular episode was focused on time travel. One of the theories mentioned is that a man made wormhole could be ...
18 views

Sunsets: Mars/Earth

I understand why our sky is blue and turns red when the sun sets or rises. I know why the sky on mars is red, but why does it turn blue during sunsets and rises? Shouldn't this actually not work due ...
16 views

Circumstances that would make it impossible to predict a large metorite strike? [on hold]

Under what circumstances would it be impossible to observe a large meteorite on collision course with Earth, and thus to do anything to prevent or mitigate the consequences of the impact?
20 views

Milky Way stellar number density : is the stated equation in this paper incorrect?

The paper is : http://www.astro.washington.edu/users/ivezic/Publications/tomographyI.pdf The equation is equation #23 in the paper. It's a model for the density of stars in the Milky Way's disk. It ...
45 views

Planets orbiting Alpha Centauri

I read that a few years ago some planets were discovered orbiting Alpha Centauri. Has there been any more information since then concerning the possibility of life there? This is the closest star ...
15 views

Why aren't secondary mirrors offset to get rid of diffraction spikes due to the support vanes?

Some kind of ellipsoidal shape mirror could reflect to a secondary mirror which is not in the way of the infalling light. Two advantages are immediately obvious. The primary mirror would not be partly ...
30 views

How are boulders formed on asteroids?

For example: Are they soft landed meteorites? Or do they form from melted material during a violent impact? Or are they the result of some kind of erosion process?
69 views

How can we tell the difference between matter and antimatter by observation in space?

I just was wondering and searching on the internet with little luck in the topic. On Antimatter Wiki they tell the observable universe is built up by matter. I read antimatter can be detected in ...
85 views

Is there a general term for epicycles, deferents, and eccentrics in Ptolemaic astronomy?

According to Ptolemy's (c. 150 CE) account of the motions of planets, planets moved in circular paths ("epicycles") around center points that in turn moved around the center of the earth along a path ...
69 views

How would the solar system look in a Geocentric model?

If I fix the Earth as the center of the solar system, what would this look like? Are there any good images? How complex is this system?
5 views

Finding the northernmost latitude in a great circle that passes through two points on the sphere [migrated]

I'm trying to prove that: a) If A and B are two places in the earth's surface with the same latitude Φ, and the difference between their longitudes is 2l then the highest latitude reached by the ...
60 views

Was the Universe expanding before the beginning of inflation?

My point of view is that first there was the Big Bang singularity, and then the period of inflation which resulted in the observable Universe becoming many times bigger. But was the Universe expanding ...
22 views

Globular cluster star density as a function of distance from the center

Context: I want to simulate globular clusters in a simple way, just to display the positions of stars. Assuming isotropy, what would be a reasonable model of the stellar number density as a function ...
133 views

Wouldn't the rings of Saturn experience tidal effect?

The "Lord of the Rings" has more than 60 moons, some of which are larger than Mercury. My question is, wouldn't the ring, which is mostly comprised of rocks, experience tidal effect whenever a moon is ...
28 views

Attraction to barycenter

If an object was a distance from a planet away that equaled the distance from the object to a moon of the said planet, would it be drawn into the direction of the barycenter as it is the common center ...
45 views

How come, in our lifetime, we will see the first stars which ever formed?

Isn't it an unlikely coincidence that we live in such special times, that we will have observatories (JWST) that see all the way back to the first starlight in the universe? Are we dreaming, and is it ...
53 views

Space time and aging

Would a more significant curvature of spacetime relative to earth (i.e. time on jupiter) effect the aging process? Basically would you age at a slower rate? Or age faster on the moon?
45 views

Ok so I was reading about the Fermi paradox, assuming life will form and thrive where possible as soon as possible and there is a very probable chance many other earths formed would they have started ...
166 views

Mini black holes, a possible result of the LHC experiment at CERN

A scientist at CERN LHC (Large Hadron Collider) was asked during an interview about the possible results and consequences of operating the LHC at full power of collision in the near future, one of the ...
23 views

Exoplanets and relativity [duplicate]

Ok, so I have read about how exoplanets are found using all sorts of genius methods. I also understand the further an obect in a telescope is the further into the past I am looking. So given that ...
72 views

What is a possible software for simulating binary star systems?

I would like to define both initial velocities and masses of components so that orbits may be either elliptical of hyperbolic. Is there any software to make such simulation? Unfortunately, Binary ...
61 views

Is radiation from neutron stars delayed by time dilation?

I understand a neutron star to be the densest stuff that can exist without becoming a black hole, the densest thing which directly gives off radiation we can detect. At the event horizon of a black ...
101 views

“Up” and “down” in Space

From my understanding, "up" and "down" in space is going towards (down) an object's gravitational pull or (up) which is going away from it. I get confused with this explanation, and I believe simply ...
26 views

Standardized “constellation” regions?

The current system of constellations is historical and has kind of arbitrary boundaries. This has a number of obvious downsides: Difficult to define boundaries need complex tables to express Each ...
66 views

How Are Radioactive Decay Rates Influenced by Neutrinos - On Earth and Other Dense Planets

I read a science report recently that mentioned an accidental discovery where radioactive decay rates shifted slightly slower in advance ( about a day and a half) of solar storms or in sync with sun's ...
50 views

What's the difference between grism and grating?

In spectroscopic observations, sometimes you meet grism, sometimes grating. Both of them could cause light dispersion, but what is the difference?