Questions tagged [atmospheric-effects]
Questions about the influences of Earth's atmosphere on astronomical observations.
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Impact of Atmospheric Water vapour on Optical Observations
I would like to ask; how does Water Vapour in the atmosphere interfere with astronomical observations? Is it in the same manner as Carbon dioxide?
What brought this to mind is the following: A ...
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Has "crescent-twinkling" even been demonstrated or at least calculated/predicted? Any "twinkleometer" data for Venus out there?
My new answer to Why does Venus flicker? addresses something that I find particularly interesting; Venus can be an incredibly thin crescent at times, and even a 1 arcminute large thin ring with an ...
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Why do some stars twinkle more than others?
This is a child's question I failed to answer. When observing some stars with naked eye, some stars (e.g. Regulus) appeared to blink significantly more than others, but I did not have the patience to ...
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Meteors arriving to a planet's atmosphere?
Imagine a planet with little or no wind activity or precipitation, but that still has an atmosphere. When a meteoroid reaches the atmosphere and burns, it converts into dust and gas. Does this gas and ...
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Could rogue planets with cold nucleus have winds or water currents/waves due to the planet's rotation?
Are there any types of wind or waves caused and produced only and exclusively by a planet's rotation? Not influenced by the planet's rotation, but produced solely by it?
In the case of waves, are ...
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To what extent does the increased average airmass the Sun's light passes through contribute to the seasons?
The traditional explanation for the cause of seasons I have heard is that because of the angle of the axis of the Earth with respect to the ecliptic, the angle at which light rays hit the Earth's ...
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Why can't moon light (reflected sun light) turn the sky blue?
Does turning the colour of the sky blue need more luminous light? Does it depend on luminosity or some other factors are also responsible for this phenomenon? Why can't the moon light turn the sky ...
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Solar eclipse impact on twilight
Has anyone observed the impact of the solar eclipse on twilight? I mean mostly the extension of the totality path in the atmosphere.
I mean the pattern below:
I - normal situation with total solar ...
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How would rainbows appear on other planets?
Are other planets capable of producing rainbows? How would those rainbows appear? Can rain, clouds or ice from elements other than water produce rainbows?
Related: https://space.stackexchange.com/...
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Terrestrial Exoplanet Skies – I've Built a Visual Sky Chart. Is it Accurate?
I'm an artist (and science enthusiast) and I've been trying to find a comprehensive resource that would help me clearly identify likely sky colors (as perceived by human vision) for exoplanets that ...
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How could a hobbyist astronomer determine apparent magnitude of a star?
Apparent magnitude is a rather complex way to determine the brightness of a star. Quoting the introduction text from the linked to Wikipedia page:
The apparent magnitude (m) of a celestial body is ...
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Around what apparent magnitude can the naked eye observe an object during full moon
For a very rough guideline using healthy/corrected eyes adjusted to the dark, around how bright should an object be to expect it to be visible?
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What exactly causes "color twinkling" and why does it seem that any color might be furthest refracted for a moment?
In this answer to Betelgeuse appears in a rainbow of colors through a Newtonian telescope I link to a video of a bright star imaged at perhaps video rate (I think) through a telescope. In addition to ...
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When measuring the spectrum of an object at the zenith, is it better to orient the spectroscopic slit N-S of E-W?
If you were to measure the spectrum of an object while it's exactly at the zenith, how should you orient the slit of the spectrograph to minimise atmospheric dispersion? Is North-South or East-West ...
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What conditions are necessary for the sun to look [as described below]
First of all sorry for the weird title. I have no idea how to describe it in a succinct way because I've never heard of something similar happening and I've only witnessed it once. The only way for me ...
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When are wedge prisms used to correct chromatic effects of atmospheric refraction? (atmospheric dispersion)
Atmospheric refraction (shown below) happens because Earth's atmosphere has an index of refraction that differs from unity.
@MikeG's comment mentions that this refraction would have a chromatic ...
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How would the surface of Mars compare with the Atacama desert for millimeter wave (and shorter) radio astronomy?
In this answer to What kind of experiments would a scientist do on Mars? I suggest that the resemblance of the ALMA array's site in the Atacama Desert to the surface of Mars suggests millimeter ...
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What can be learned from low frequency radio astronomy available outside of Earth's ionosphere?
As discussions and answers to How large does refraction become in radioastronomy? point out, it is difficult to do radio astronomy much below 30 MHz (or 10 MHz depending on how aggressive you are in ...
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Fixed star-like light appears for a second or two - is there a way to find out what it was?
I saw what I can only describe as a fixed point of light, as bright as a shooting star, near Alpheratz for a second or two before disappearing. I am positive it wasn't a satellite nor a plane. There ...
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Why are fewer stars seen next to the horizon?
I was in the desert the other day, in an area that was free of light pollution.
While it was easy to see the stars above us, I noticed that near the horizon, even when there is no distance light, we ...
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What are the oxygen or water vapor lines?
I was reading the document Recommendation ITU-R P.676-11 (09/2016); Attenuation by atmospheric gases (P Series, Radiowave propagation) in order to calculate the atmospheric losses, and there were some ...
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What it the outer part of the sun, that we see with our eyes, called?
When we look at the sun with our eyes it seems much larger than it actually is. When we use a solar filter we are seeing what the sun actually is.
So, what is the name of the thing the solar filter is ...
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How precise are Saemundsson/Bennett refraction formulas?
I was trying to reproduce the predictions of the Bennett formula* by physically-based calculations with a model based on a real-life refractivity profile. My calculations based on Table V from ref. 1 ...
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Why could I so easily see and photograph such a bright totally eclipsed Moon from a bright city road? (May 26, 2021 total lunar eclipse)
Due to scheduling and geometry I could only snap last night's lunar eclipse with an older model cell phone on a pedestrian overpass of a brightly lit city street, but surprisingly the Moon was quite ...
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Do radio telescopes see other stars better at night?
As you know, we don’t see stars with the naked eye during the day because of the visible glare of our Sun.
As I understand our Sun emits radio frequency waves, too. Is there a radio ‘glare’ from the ...
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How do they know the TNT equivalent of the meteor explosion over Vermont?
I've seen several reports of this meteor explosion, below are two.
Was there infrasound recordings of the pressure wave, or were weak, local seismic signals recorded, or it this just a ballpark ...
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Oldest Reference to Astronomical Seeing
I'm writing a paper on astronomical seeing. Sir Isaac Newton identified both the phenomenon and origin of astronomical seeing in his Opticks. He writes:
If the Theory of making Telescopes could at
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Does the earth's atmosphere act as a spherical lens and refract light from space?
If so by how much does it "spoil" the view of stars and galaxies etc.
Is this error noticable, when compared to pictures taken from outer space.
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Can we hear something on Venus, Mars and Titan?
Mars, Venus and Titan have an atmosphere and we can theoretically step on them (and die quickly).
So, as an example, let's say we can survive on these objects without a space suit. I say: “Hi” on any ...
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Energetics of Titans Tholin haze
So, I've googled and wiki'd on this, but no clue, so I turn my question to the community:
Given Titan's nice orange haze that is supposedly composed of Tholins and strangely coincides with its ...
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Effect of the absence of atmospheric refraction to sun rise and sunset times
What is the effect of absence of atmospheric refraction on sin rise and sunset time?
Is it will be delayed or earlier for sunrise and sunset, and why?
Thank you:)
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How many stars can be seen naked eye from outside the atmosphere? How dense is the "sky" from there?
When I was 20, I went to Naxos (Greece) with friends. I was driving my car during the night on the mount Zeus (1003 meters - 3,291 ft) listening Pink Floyd.
Up there we stopped the car to take a walk,...
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How accurate are rederings of something entering Earth's atmosphere?
Supposedly how accurate is it when you see a movies showing something entering Earth's atmosphere traveling 1 mile to 10 miles an hour or barely at all but skinning the atmosphere they show it heating ...
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Why doesn't the Moonrise appear red when viewed from orbit?
After searching through many videos, I finally found one that shows, from the perspective of low earth orbit, the Moon transiting the horizon. It is actually a Moonset, but it shouldn't make a ...
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Why don't these Clouds show no depth perception in correspondence to the Sun [closed]
The pictures show exactly what my naked eye visualized.What is the cause of this?
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Is Earth unique in its fairly clear atmosphere?
So, we have surface pictures from two alien planets, Venus (captured by the Venera 13), and Mars (captured by the rover).
Both of these pictures appear to be very dusty. For Venus we see strong ...
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Why doesn't the moon twinkle?
Stars twinkle because their light has to squeeze through several different layers of the Earth's atmosphere. So why doesn't the moon twinkle as well?
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Can you see city lights on the Moon from Earth?
This is the opposite of another question. That question is about whether you could see cities on Earth if you were standing on the Moon.
Let's there are cities on the Moon and you're standing on the ...
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Does the summit of a small mountain offer better seeing?
I have a small amateur telescope, and would like to defeat the atmospheric seeing conditions as much as is possible.
Fortuitously, I happen to live fairly close to this lovely patch of bare elevated ...
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What are reliable resources for weather and all other atmospheric obstructions?
Everyone knows you need clear skies to see what the stars or the Sun is doing. Weather is not too particularly hard to determine. There are many resources out there that will tell us the weather in ...
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Are the darker blue/black areas in this picture what the atmosphere of Jupiter looks like without clouds?
This is a picture (mosaic?) of Jupiter's south pole taken by Juno (also shown below). It has gotten a lot of press, but I haven't seen anything, even in the scientific paper that accompanied its ...
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Do the gases in the Earth's atmosphere affect the color of a lunar eclipse?
As the sun's rays pass through the Earth's atmosphere only the red light gets through. Is this the result of specific gases in the Earth's atmosphere filtering the red light? Does all of the nitrogen ...
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What is tilt anisoplanatism for Laser-guide-star usage in adaptive optic systems?
How does tip-tilt mirrors correct such issue? What is the physical origin of the error?
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Scattered Intensity of Light vs Angles of Incidence and Emission
So I just derived an expression for the scattered intensity of light from an atmosphere with ideal isotopic scattering: $I/F=\frac{cos(i)}{4(cos(e)+cos(i))}$, where $I$ is intensity, $F$ is flux, $i$ ...
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Why is moon light not the same color as sunlight?
The light from the moon is light being reflected from the sun. The sun, in space, is white. But on Earth, when the light is filtered through an atmosphere, the light appears yellow. So then, why is ...
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Looking at ourselves with a powerful telescope?
Could a small curved mirror and/or lens in Earth's orbit be aimed at a different hemisphere from where you are be be viewed with a powerful telescope to see the ground through the mirror? Would a more ...
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Is it possible to see Saturn from Titan's surface, day and night?
Titan is the only moon in our solar system with a thick atmosphere, similar to what our Earth's atmosphere was before life "appeared". It also orbits Saturn close enough to actually see it beautifully ...
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Could spy satellites use laser guide stars (for adaptive optics)?
Are sodium lasers useful for Earth observing space telescopes/spy satellites?
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Public Data Set on Atmospheric Absorbtion / Extinction
Is there a publicly available data set for mean atmospheric absorption / extinction? I would like to be able to process and plot a graph similar to this image from NASA on wiki commons.
The HITRAN ...
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How much clearer are stars in earths orbit?
As a child I remember my parents taking camping in California, and upon stepping out of the car I was awestruck at how thick the Milky Way galaxy was and at the number of stars everywhere. I've always ...
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