# All Questions

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### What is the bluest narrow band filter mounted on ground based telescopes?

If we want to check a QSO's lyman alpha narrow band image, could a ground based telescope do that? I mean under the circumstance that its lyman alpha shifts to 3300A.
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### Calculate telescope orientation based on RA, DEC and Lat/Long

I'm parsing FITS files for a project based on data from a telescope. These files include 'DEC', 'RA' and lat long values. I understand roughly the concept of celestial coordinates and I assume that ...
94 views

### Dark Flow: statistical limits on existence

Dark Flow has been thrown around as a term a lot lately, especially with the latest Planck results. New Scientist reported last year that it was now statistically improbable, but the paper by Atrio ...
108 views

### Determining effect of small variable force on planetary perihelion precession

Is there an analytical technique for determining the effect of a small variable transverse acceleration upon the rate of precession of a planet orbitting around the Sun according to Newtonian gravity ...
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### Is there a paper on galaxy mergers in clusters of galaxies?

I'm looking for something to cite about galaxy mergers in clusters of galaxies. I need numbers on the frequency of mergers in the outer parts of galaxy clusters vs. the cluster center. In the center ...
58 views

### Are there large underground caverns on Mars?

Scientists talk about the possibility of life underground on Mars, and I assume they are talking about microscopic life that can live in small gaps in the soil or rock. But is there any evidence that ...
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### What was the greatest spatial extent of the Asteroid Belt prior to the Late Heavy Bombardment?

Reading the article On the asteroid belt’s orbital and size distribution (Gladman et al. 2009), there is an interest point made: asteroids a few kilometers and smaller in size are recent ...
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### Exoplanet naming conventions

I'm looking for any exoplanet nomenclature, official, semi-official, proposed, or just a good idea, beyond what can already be found on Wikipedia at ...
88 views

### Magnetic fields of peculiar HgMn A type stars

Are HgMn (peculiar A type) stars really possess global magnetic fields? See, for example, paper Hubrig et al. 2012: http://arxiv.org/abs/1208.2910
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### Going from the second moments of an object to its ellipticities and half-light-radius

I am studying ellipticity distributions of galaxies and am having trouble moving from the second central moment matrix (covariance matrix) to properties for an object such as its half-light radius. I ...
103 views

### is there any theory or observational evidence that our universe is electrically neutral or not?

It seems our universe is neutral in large scale. There is CP violationwiki problem about matter and dark matter. Similarly is there any theory about whether our universe is electrically neutral? ...
81 views

### How many new galaxies enter the observable universe each day/year/decade?

Each day light has more time to reach our eyes from distant galaxies. In one day, light travels 2.59×10^10 km. So our observable universe (assuming my simple math skills apply here and there isn't ...
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### Why can primordial tensor perturbations of the CMB be ascribed to gravitational waves?

Why can primordial tensor perturbations of the CMB be ascribed to gravitational waves? Is this attribution unique, or are there other michanisms that could lead to the ecitation of tensor modes? In ...
28 views

### need data-point: actual counts per second with APD (avalanche photodiode) detector

I'm designing a sensor system to perform specialized [astronomy and space-sciences] experiments, and need a "reality check" to support or adjust my theoretical calculations. What I need is the ...
58 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 ...
37 views

### Is Rosetta changing the theory of comets?

Rosetta is now arriving at Comet 67P. Other comets have been analyzed to some degree (Giotto, Deep Space 1, Deep Impact, etc.) So my question is... where I can study the up-to-date theory of ...
27 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?
11 views

### Potential Re-Capture of Rogue Planets

Rogue planets can be designated as rogue planets due to one of two possible scenarios: 1) the "rogue planet" formed as a sub-brown dwarf, or 2) the planet was ejected from its home star system. I want ...
45 views

### Why are explosions always used to represent the Big Bang?

In documentaries the Big Bang is often represented as blackness followed by a big explosion with loud noises. This always feels cheap and falling short of explaining the origin of the Universe. Is ...
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### 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 ...
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### Can astronomical radio sources be used as a verifiable randomness beacon?

A randomness beacon is a source of random data that is broadcast to multiple parties. Users listening to the beacon receive the same sequence of random strings and no one can predict the values in ...
39 views

### What is the explanation for rapid inflation just after the big bang?

I often hear about cosmic inflation occurring rapidly after the Big Bang, but have never came across any explanation for it. What supposedly caused this inflationary period in the early universe? ...
24 views

### Singularity in Laplace Method for Orbit Determination

I have a question about Laplace angle-only method for orbit determination where the line of sight vectors are being interpolated. I read somewhere that the method fails (due to a matrix being ...
15 views

### Why does Mars' experience an 'ice age' at high axis obliquity, when Earth experiences an ice age at low axis obliquity

This paper here goes into some detail about how Mars' experiences its own form of 'ice ages' on a quasi periodic basis driven by the wobbling of its axis. The main mechanism outlined is that the ...
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### Is Mars' mantle homogeneous or heterogeneous and what might this say about mantle convection?

A supervisor of mine made an off-hand comment about the fact that Mars used to have plate tectonics, and there is evidence that Mars used to have plate tectonics, however now it does not. The theory ...
130 views

### In 2016, the summer solstice will coincide with a full moon. How often does this happen?

I found that the solstices work on a 400 year cycle based on this. I can't find anything similar for the lunar cycle. Is there a formula I can use to calculate the date of the full moon?
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### Can Space-Time Itself Have Energy Qualities Like Momentum?

Hypothetically, if space could be moved or scaled, what would happen to everything inside? I'd like to know if an element of momentum could be transferred to objects by contorting space-time. Other ...
34 views

### Intrasolar planetary surface temperature change divergence from Earth

Considering the vast amount of insulating gas emitted by human activity on Earth without a coincident release on all other planets in the solar system as well as the phenomenon that planets in a solar ...
39 views

### How exactly can the hypothetical conformal invariance of the CMB spectrum be established by analyzing tensor modes?

In the introduction of this paper at the top of p11, it is mentioned that a hypothetical enhancement of the scale invariance of the CMB spectrum to conformal invariance could potentially be ...
25 views

### local stellar mapping data

I've been playing around with Near Star Map, and I think I kind of want something more sophisticated, so for all stars within 100ly/30pc, is the following known? velocity (it would be nice to have a ...
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### 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 ...
43 views

### Infinite number of universes? Black holes are guilty?

I was thinking, if the space is infinite, what if there are infinite number of spaces, inside our universe? I mean, everyone knows that black holes exist, but nobody knows what happens when you get ...
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### How do you model galactic noise based on raw signal data?

I am collecting signal data in the 50 MHz to 300MHz range. The data is stored as a function of time and frequency. What methods can I use to determine what noise is caused by the galaxy once I ...
23 views

### Determining planetary positions on the celestial sphere by Right Ascension and Declination

How would one go about determining the position of the different planets in our solar system with respect to the celestial sphere based on the following data set? Is there a practical way to calculate ...
32 views

### Landing on an “earth-like” planet (practical application)

This may not belong here in astronomy and my apologies if that's the case. The hypothetical: We find, and are able to travel to (in a reasonably short amount of time), a planet that is for all intents ...
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### What known comets are binary?

Many asteroids are today known to be binary, to have "moons". But what comets are known to be binary? Or what fraction of them are theoretically thought to be binary? And if possible, then separate ...
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### Are ascending node of sun, the point of intersection of prime meridian and equator and center of earth all collinear?

I did a bit of googling but couldn't find the exact answer, so are the following 3 points collinear or not ? 1_center of earth 2_ascending(or descending) node of sun 3_point of intersection of ...
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### What is frequency range?

Using the NED, you can search via frequency range corresponding to the selected pass band filter. I'm a beginner here and don't really understand. Here's the quote: NOTES: Objects with ...
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### Classification of a Comet

Google's definition of a comet is: a celestial object consisting of a nucleus of ice and dust and, when near the sun, a ‘tail’ of gas and dust particles pointing away from the sun. This ...
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### Alt-Az or Polar?

I have a Meade wedge that I am to install on one of their LX200 telescopes. Will I be able to align in alt-az afterwards? Is polar easier or harder to make an alignment? Any other tips welcome. Thanks ...
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### Is it difficult to see DSO in your eyepiece?

I want to know if bringing the image of a DSO in eyepiece generally represents a problem for beginners in astronomy.
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### In regards to the holographic principle, what exactly is information?

I'm having trouble understanding what exactly "information" is in the context of the holographic principle suggested by string theory. Can it be equated to a matrix of ones and zeros? Does this ...
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### What is the galaxy M87 doing these days?

The massive elliptical galaxy M87 in the Virgo cluster is 53,490,000 light years away. It also contains one of the largest, heaviest supermassive black holes in the known Universe. But it's also my ...
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### What is the ratio of cosmic microwave background radiation to normal radiation?

I would like to know the ratio of cosmic microwave background radiation to normal radiation in the universe. I am considering cosmic microwave background radiation to include the microwave, and any ...
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### Why doesn't this paradox disprove (some) multiverse quantum gravitational theories?

As I understand it, one theory of the multiverse is that there are an infinite number of universes separated by small distances in other (than our observable 3/4) dimensions and that gravity is weak ...
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### Coordinates of the Moon

How does one compute the right ascension and declination of the Moon at a given time (or for that matter, the altitude and azimuth)?
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### Any new info about solar flares hitting the Moon added by the LADEE mission?

This article from 2011 mentions simulations about the sputtering effect caused by a solar flare hitting the Moon: "We found that when this massive cloud of plasma strikes the moon, it acts like ...
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### How likely and severe is the threat of a gamma ray burst to earth?

In the National Geographic article: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/04/090403-gamma-ray-extinction_2.html it is suggested that a gamma ray burst likely caused a mass extinction in earth's ...