Questions tagged [atmospheric-effects]
Questions about the influences of Earth's atmosphere on astronomical observations.
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What is causing this strange shimmering pattern of light during a total solar eclipse?
Below this question was left a comment linking to the Smarter Every Day video Space Station Transiting 2017 ECLIPSE, My Brain Stopped Working - Smarter Every Day 175.
At about ...
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How will "modern equipment" allow the Royal Observatory to now avoid some of the effects of light pollution at Greenwich?
The article First Light: a new era for the Royal Observatory says (in part):
25 June 2018
The first modern, research-grade telescopes have just been installed at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, ...
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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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Formula for sun's atmospheric refraction below the horizon
I have searched in Google and found interesting articles for atmospheric refraction influence on sun's elevation above the horizon (from 0° till 90°).
eg. Bennett G.G. etc.
I would like to know if ...
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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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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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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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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 long can afterglow last after a fireball?
I was watching the YouTube video Perseid Meteor Shower - Mojave Desert, California which looks East before sunrise, presumably in mid-August of 2016. I've made a GIF of a few seconds near the ...
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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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Long term temperature effects of an eclipse
I was surprised to see a very measurable difference in temperature at my home during the recent solar eclipse. The temperature was about 93 degrees fahrenheit but dropped to around 86 degrees. It ...
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How large does refraction become in radioastronomy?
For atmospheric refraction of visible light, Wikipedia gives the order of 1 arc minute at 45° altitude above the horizon, and 5.3 arc minutes at 10°. This is caused by the dielectric polarizability of ...
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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 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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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