All Questions

2answers
7 views

What current evidence is there that disproves the Big Bang Theory?

The Big Bang Theory has been described as follows; "Somewhere between 18 and 20 billion years ago, all of the matter in the universe was compressed into a tiny space no larger than the dot on a page. ...
0answers
5 views

Composition of planets' core

It is often possible to find a list of the materials that compose the cores and the mantle of plantes (often they are iron and/or nickel). How can these materials be determined in our Solar system? ...
1answer
10 views

Would bacteria on incoming meteors burn before impacting?

I was watching an old Ancient Aliens last night and there was a whole episode dedicated to how the "Gods" (aliens) were spreading disease/plagues. A good portion of the show was dedicated to how ...
0answers
27 views

Scientific Accuracy - alien communication ideas [on hold]

I'm writing a speculative story about aliens coming to earth - and just wanted to bounce a couple of ideas for scientific accuracy (or at least lack of obvious impossibility).This is set in the near ...
1answer
28 views

What causes jets from newly born stars?

Newly born stars often have bilateral jets of gas ejected from them at high speeds (hundreds of km per seconds), often ending in Herbig-Haro objects. As I understand it those jets would have something ...
1answer
57 views

Formation of Cosmic Microwave Background

It is said that the cosmic microwave radiation (CMB) was formed when the universe was 379,000 years old. How is this calculated?
1answer
100 views

Planetary gas giants

I've read that a gas giant, like Jupiter, doesn't have a rocky surface. But planets must start as a rocky conglomerate of flotsam. Is the interior so hot that all the material is molten and there ...
1answer
40 views

What is the shape and size of a gamma ray burst?

As I understand it, a gamma ray burst is created when a massive star collapses into a black hole. The poles of the black hole eject a massive burst of energy which we know as gamma ray bursts. So my ...
1answer
66 views

Why can't we detect water on Mars in the same way as in exoplanets?

Often I see news articles claiming astronomers found exoplanets with water. If we are capable of detecting water on such distant objects, why don't we employ similar methods to find water on Mars or ...
2answers
70 views

What is the size of the universe.is it infinite? [duplicate]

What is the exact size of the universe.is it infinite?
1answer
37 views

Using Tully Fisher to measure Distance Problem

Can anyone explain by looking at the solution in the pic, how did the cos (i) came about? I guess they are getting this from the major-minor axis info in the question, but I am not sure about the ...
0answers
36 views

How did scientists determine an estimate of the number of planets greater than Sedna's size to exist in the Inner Oort Cloud?

In the article, New Dwarf Planet Found at Solar System's Edge, Hints at Possible Faraway 'Planet X' (Wall, 2014) where they report on research and observations performed by astronomers that discovered ...
1answer
59 views

What is the Fundamental plane for Elliptical Galaxies?

An alternate explanation rather than from wikipedia is preferable.
1answer
32 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 ...
0answers
54 views

Elastic collisions and conservation of momentum [migrated]

If you have an elastic collision between objects 1 and where 'kinetic energy is conserved', does this mean object 1 will always have the same velocity it did before the collision? Or will object 2 ...
0answers
28 views

Could a space radio telescope fill multiple purposes?

Dream for a while and imagine that there will be a flagship+ mission within a decade to put a large radio telescope in space: What kind of different tasks could the same radio equipment feasibly be ...
2answers
103 views
+50

I know when the human history ends. Or not?

If you think that we born on 1920...2000 and knows that the sun will explode 4 to 5 billion years from now. you will say that the time is a strange thing. I can not say that i will die before i know ...
1answer
42 views

Is the location that published calendars use to calculate the seasons one specific location on the earth?

All the calendars in my house say the fall equinox is Tuesday the 23rd. All the astronomical programs and astronomical sources say it is it is Monday the 22nd in Ohio. Since the time given is 10:29 ...
0answers
51 views

How long until Earth's core solidifies? [migrated]

How much longer does Earth have until the core turns solid? Does global warming change these estimates at all?
1answer
73 views

Is the expansion of the universe greater than the speed of light?

If the rate of expansion of the universe is increasing , won't it eventually become greater than c? Also, after inflation, did the rate of expansion slow down and then start to accelerate again?
1answer
67 views

Why natural satellites (moons) of all Planets are Solid?

Why the natural satelittes (moons)of all planets including moons of Gas Giants are are Solid or Rocky and not gaseous like them?
1answer
40 views

Is it conceivable that the presence of chlorophyll (or similar) could be distinguishable from other chemicals on an exoplanet?

If an Earth-like exoplanet had a sufficiently extensive plant biosphere (i.e large forests, aquatic algal mats etc), is it at all conceivable that scientists could spectroscopically detect the ...
1answer
61 views

Requesting book references for a non-expert person with math background or just a non-expert person

I've just finished my masters degree (to be exact previous week ^_^). And I'm completing my collection of applications of my studies. During previous year I started reading about Robotics and Coding ...
1answer
52 views

Sky Glow calculations

I am leading a project for my High School NASA Club, and am looking for some advice. The goal of our project is to use a Raspberry Pi to control a camera that takes photos of the sky, and uses the ...
2answers
19 views

Appropriate battery for overnight viewing to drive telescope and GOTO?

I have a Plettstone 18" Dobsonian telescope with GOTO and clock drive that runs off a 12 volt cigarette lighter adapter. What is an appropriate battery to use to run this overnight while viewing all ...
1answer
37 views

How certain are we about the universe's flatness?

The universe is thought to be flat: $\Omega = 1 \pm 1\%$. As I understand it we can determine this by measuring triangles against the CMB. Yet during inflation dark energy made the universe grew ...
1answer
40 views

Is there matter forming in the inflationary space?

Following the answers and the line of thinking from here Is there enough hydrogen left after a star dies so another star will have enough to light up? I was wondering if is there any possibility to ...
3answers
185 views

Why isn't the star that created the black hole a black hole?

If the mass of a black hole is creating so much gravity that light cannot escape, why isn't the mass of the star that created the black hole (before it went supernova) trapping light as well? By all ...
1answer
93 views

How can light reach us from 14 billion light years away?

One thing that I can't quite wrap my head around is how light is traveling to Earth from 14 billion light years away, aka the beginning of the universe. The way I see it, the universe itself was very ...
1answer
29 views

Free neutrons and stellar nucleosynthesis

Both the R-process and the S-process of stellar nucleosynthesis rely on absorbing 1 (S) or more (R) neutrons. Where do they come from? I thought there are no free neutrons in stars. (Also the ...
1answer
52 views

Why are (Type II) supernovae so bright?

The vast majority of energy from a supernova is emitted as neutrinos and high-energy radiation, both of which being invisible to the naked eye. Yet a supernova can outshine its galaxy in the visible ...
2answers
76 views

Is there enough hydrogen left after a star dies so another star will have enough to light up?

A star consumes quite a lot of hydrogen in its life, and is pretty much "vacuuming" everything in its vicinity. After it dies (eventually by supernova which will spread all its composition over light ...
2answers
50 views

How fast is a comet moving when it crosses Earth's orbit?

Is it about the same as Earth's orbital speed?
3answers
69 views

Did cosmological inflation occur at speeds greater than $c$?

If cosmological inflation occurred at speeds less than $c$, wouldn't we see the CMB right in front of our noses (or not at all) instead of at 13.7 billion light years? And if it happened faster than ...
1answer
48 views

Expansion of the Universe [duplicate]

Please forgive my ignorance. I dare say that these questions arise from me trying to understand the nature of the Universe using Newtonian physics. There are a few things that really bother me when ...
0answers
35 views

What are the biggest problems about the numerical, finite-element GR models?

As I know, for example the modelling of the collapse of a neutron star (to a black hole) wasn't done correctly until now. Why? Yes, I know, the Einstein Field Equations aren't really easy to solve. ...
0answers
35 views

Which kind of properties can we get for cosmic ray particles hitting on an optical ccd?

It is very common that we meet cosmic ray particles in optical images recorded by CCDs. You can see the "snowflakes" in the hubble images below: Generally we should remove them in order to get ...
1answer
55 views

How massive can a star be at birth? [duplicate]

We have discovered some incredibly massive stars. R136a1, the most massive known star is estimated to have 265 times mass as our Sun. Yet it has been burning for at least a million years, and must ...
1answer
69 views

During an eclipse, does the size of the moon and sun match perfectly?

During a lunar or solar eclipse, from our perspective when we look towards the moon and the sun is behind the moon, does it fit exactly? Has anyone calculated the sizes of each in a relative ...
1answer
26 views

Tools for creating a multiwavelength view of the sky

Not sure that this is the correct place to ask this question, but here goes. I am trying to find tools to accumulate image data (preferably in FITS format) on a given (RA, Dec)-coordinate of sky. ...
1answer
24 views

Conditions on Hot Jupiters

Hot Jupiters are close to their parent star - after all, that's why they're so hot. Their atmospheres are thought to be slowly blown away by the parent star, and they will eventually become chthonian ...
0answers
41 views

What is the difference between Sphere of Influence and Hill sphere?

Wikipedia's definition of Hill sphere is: An astronomical body's Hill sphere is the region in which it dominates the attraction of satellites. To be retained by a planet, a moon must have an orbit ...
2answers
108 views

Selecting a Telescope for Viewing Planets

I hope to observe planets like Jupiter and Saturn, and moons. I am a novice when it comes to telescopes and I know images in magazines are not taken with at least 12-inch telescope in a middle of ...
3answers
162 views

Milky way: How do we know its appearance? [duplicate]

How can we know how does the Milky Way look like if we are in it? Sorry if the answer is evident, I am not an expert.
3answers
72 views

Can you explain the pattern of Hill sphere sizes of the objects of the Solar system?

I found this image on calculations of Hill sphere for planets/dwarf planets of the Solar system. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hill_sphere_of_the_planets.png I found it interesting that ...
1answer
38 views

Is a spotting scope or binoculars a better choice for astronomy?

I'm interested in observing the moon and planets, and maybe some nebulae and star clusters. I have a pair of binoculars: Nikon OceanPro 7x50 binoculars (around \\$300) Celestron 20x80 binoculars ...
0answers
22 views

Equinoxes and solstices: start of the season or mid-season? [migrated]

In the United States, the upcoming autumnal equinox is marked on most calendars as the "first day of autumn." Similarly the solstices are commonly called the "first day of summer" and "first day of ...
1answer
51 views

Time-density and time-temperature functions of the Universe since the Big Bang

I am looking for these... functions. I want to be able to say, "at a 1873. second there were around 54230000000 K temperature and 0.00435 kg/m^3 density". On the net I could find only tables or ...
1answer
31 views

Is there an astronomy exam I can take?

I am currently living in Bangkok and I love astronomy. However, I haven't been able to find an official astronomy exam that I can do to gain college credit. Could someone help me out please?
3answers
70 views

the metal distribution in our solar system

The sun dominates in our solar system. I wonder whether in every aspect the sun play the most role in our system. For example, all kinds of metals are mainly located in the sun instead of the rest ...

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