Questions tagged [solar-system]
Questions regarding the Sun and objects orbiting it.
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How do we know that the planets of our solar system began their formation at more or less the same time?
A long time ago, when I had to help my children with their homeworks, I often had the vexing question « how do we know ? ». It is true that reading a middle-school science textbook is like reading ...
4
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0answers
137 views
Could or has a Ninth planet ever be "formed" in our solar system?
As I get along with the answers in my previous question, that planet formation depends on accumulation of planetesimals. So is there any chance that a planet nine would form or any of the Trans-...
27
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4answers
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Which planet came first in our Solar system?
I always wonder which planet came first in our solar system? Sources suggest that Jupiter might be the first planet in our solar system, but how did our solar system evolve into an 8 planet system?
4
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0answers
69 views
How do the giant planets excite the orbits of asteroids?
The giant planets, particularly Jupiter, are notorious for bringing about changes in eccentricities and inclinations of smaller bodies(asteroids and KBOs). Jupiter, in fact, throws almost all the ...
3
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0answers
70 views
How do JWST and Hubble compare in detecting small bodies in the solar system that are a) white, b) black, c) Arrokoth-like, d) Voyager-like?
Assume the object is small, spherical, and illuminated only by the Sun, and has some apparent motion. The object is either:
a) white - reflecting 100% perfectly diffusely (assume low temperature)
b) ...
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0answers
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If Planet 9 is a primordial black hole with a mass of 5 Earth, is it possible to detect it in a ground telescope? What should we seek in this case? [duplicate]
If planet 9 is not a planet but a black hole how can we find it? Can we see gravitational lense or infrared/gamma light?
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3answers
157 views
Why is the composition of the sun so distinct from that of earth?
Given that the sun is – in astronomical distances – quite close to the earth, why are the two composed of such distinctly different substances?
Sun Composition
Hydrogen 74.9%
Helium 23.8%
Oxygen ~1%
...
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1answer
84 views
What is an Oort Cloud? [closed]
New to astronomy ! I have been reading some astronomical books, but suddenly I came across the word Oort cloud, So, what is an Oort cloud ?
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1answer
73 views
how would you explain the motions in the solar system? [closed]
like so i don't get it it does not make sense I'm confused
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2answers
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How can Io be tidally heated while it is in tidal lock?
According to its Wikipedia page:
Rotation period: synchronous
Eccentricity: 0.0041
But also
...extreme geologic activity is the result of tidal heating...
How is it possible? It should not be ...
2
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2answers
96 views
Does one need to consider relativistic effects when simulating the (or any) Solar system?
There was a question over at Physics asking how to improve a home-brew numerical simulation of the Solar system.
Even though in that case the defects were likely numerical, I started to wonder whether ...
8
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2answers
309 views
How was the speed of the Sun (around the Milky Way Galaxy) calculated?
The Sun travels around the Milky Way Galaxy with a speed of 220 km/s. The question is: where did this value come from? Is there any article about the calculation?
Reformulated question: What are the ...
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0answers
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List of J₂ values for solar system bodies beyond the planets; are there any prolates?
J₂ values for the planets can be found in several sources including each planet's planetary fact sheet. Without looking I'm going to assume they are all positive (oblate) because each planet rotates ...
31
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2answers
6k views
Which planet, viewed from which other planet would appear the largest?
Inspired by this question, I'm curious: Which planet in our solar system, when viewed from which other planet, would appear the largest/brightest? You probably can't really see much of Uranus from ...
3
votes
2answers
142 views
2 points on Earth’s surface, 1 second apart in time
I’m hoping to find a method (probably some modeling software?) that would allow me to find pairs of locations on the Earth’s surface that occupy the same point in space relative to the sun, one second ...
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0answers
62 views
Is it completely false that the Sun does not revolve round the earth? In what sense? [duplicate]
This is a very naive question but I never fully understood this. For a system of two binary stars moving under the influence of their mutual gravitational forces revolve around their common center of ...
3
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0answers
71 views
Has SETI searched the solar system for life?
I know SETI is searching the stars for radio signals emitted by advanced alien civilizations, but has SETI searched inside our solar system - particularly moons, planets, and Lagrange points? I would ...
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1answer
73 views
How will be changed Hill's radius and Kepler's formulas in case of 2D space instead of 3D?
Imagine that Flatland habitats go into space. All stars and planets are the circles instead of spheres and gravity law is $F=Gm_1m_2/R$ instead of $F=Gm_1m_2/R^2$.
How the other formulas will be ...
0
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1answer
124 views
How to predict future position of body in solar system (without Kepler's equations, N-body problem)?
I have a solar system where each body interacts with each other by force $F = \frac{Gm_1m_2}{R^2}$
Is it possible to predict future position of some random body after t seconds since bodies velocity ...
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1answer
91 views
Nature of faculae on Ceres? Do they glow in the dark?
It looks like the faculae on Ceres glow in the dark, although the scientific community has decided it's brine. [What an imbecile idea, BTW!]
Would it be possible to photograph the dwarf planet and the ...
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0answers
31 views
What were the likely initial conditions at the time of the solar system's formation?
I know we will never know for sure how many planets there were and what their respective masses and orbital elements were when the solar system formed, but I'm very interested in what the approximate ...
0
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1answer
85 views
If all objects move, where do we go?
Yes I know that the sun and planets in the solar system travel fast with an average speed of 448,000 mph.
Are we going to the center of the galaxy? If so, does that mean our galaxy is getting smaller ...
2
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2answers
129 views
Are the major-axis of Mars and Earth orbits on the same plane?
Which means that I can draw an imaginary plane that contains the major-axis of both Earth and Mars.
2
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2answers
104 views
Do all the orbits of planets in the Solar system fit in a (imaginary) cone?
So that all the elliptic orbits can be seen as slices from the cone while the sun is a shared focus.
2
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0answers
39 views
Precision of orbital period of exoplanets vs solar system planets (Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia)
I noticed that the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia lists the orbital period of L 98-59 b in days to 7 decimal places. Can astronomers really measure orbital period of exoplanets to greater precision ...
3
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2answers
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...but where did Mars' atmosphere actually GO?
In this answer to How is space a vacuum when there are planets, gases, etc? I mention that most of Mars' original atmosphere was swept away by the solar wind after the planet lost its magnetic field ...
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0answers
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Is there a formula for a planet's orbit in a 3D space?
I'm trying to model the orbits of Earth and Mars and their positions at a given point in time. But I can only find 2D equations of elliptic orbits, which only contain the x and y variables. I have to ...
5
votes
2answers
154 views
How do scientists know that Earth used to spin much more rapidly?
News has just been released all over my news feeds about how paleontologists now believe that early photosynthetic organisms became much more efficient at producing oxygen after the Earth started to ...
7
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1answer
1k views
On what basis is the information about the distance and velocity of the Voyager probes determined?
Voyager 1 was the first-ever object to reach interstellar space on
August 25, 2012 when it passed beyond the sun’s realm of plasma
influence (the heliosphere)[...]
(source)
Although some of their ...
2
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1answer
99 views
What is the distance between solar system and a distant galaxy
When we say a galaxy is 300 million light-years away, is that its distance now or 300 million years ago?
9
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2answers
2k views
What is the probability of life having developed or going to develop in our solar system another time?
I'm sorry I am not quite sure this question satisfies this point:
Questions that are purely hypothetical, for example a question such as 'Could a black hole destroy the universe' or 'What if our ...
8
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3answers
340 views
Is the barycenter of the solar system usually outside of the sun?
I came across this picture on wikipedia:
Note: From a quick search I gathered that although there are slight differences between the limb of the sun and the accepted radius of the sun, these ...
5
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1answer
138 views
From Proxima b, could any planets around Sol be imaged directly by a strong telescope? If so, which ones would be easiest to spot?
How strong would a telescope (and what kind of telescope) on Proxima Centauri b have to magnify to discern any planets around Sol, and which planets would be easiest to spot? One might think the ...
3
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1answer
116 views
Are we able to accurately predict planetary orbits over a longer period of time?
I was wondering whether planetary orbits can be predicted with our classical theories, or whether quantum randomness comes into play making the unpredictable in the long run?
0
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3answers
103 views
How big can a planet get, with respect to its star for it to sustain life? [closed]
Earth is 108 times smaller than the sun in terms of its diameter while Jupiter is 10 times.
Assuming Jupiter was located such that it could sustain life, theoretically how big a planet can get with ...
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0answers
43 views
Couldn't the orbits of ETNOs have been altered by a flying-by rogue planet as well?
Regarding the Extreme trans-Neptunian objects or ETNOs, whose orbits some believe are elongated by a far away planet, could their orbits have been elongated by a rogue planet as well? Is it possible ...
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1answer
47 views
Can the pebbles growth model be applied to the rotations of planetary systems? [duplicate]
I've just read the University of Amsterdam 2019 News item Pebbles determine the direction in which planets rotate (which links to R.G.Visser et al (2020) Spinning up planetary bodies by pebble ...
5
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2answers
210 views
Moons with synchronous rotation in our solar system
Are all moons in our solar system rotating synchronously around their planet? If not, what are the criteria that some do and some don't?
Many thanks for any insights!
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2answers
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If I was in a coma and woke up at night in the desert, what knowledge would I know instantly and after 30 days?
If I was in a coma and woke up at night in the desert, what knowledge would I know instantly and after 30 days of observation?
Can I figure out the general directions, i.e. where North, South, East, ...
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1answer
332 views
Degrees of freedom in restricted circular coplanar three body problem
How many degrees of freedom does a mechanical system consisting of three bodies, the Sun, Jupiter and an asteroid, have in the restricted circular coplanar problem of the three bodies?
I know that if ...
2
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1answer
91 views
Details about the next big comet 2014 UN271?
The announcent of the massive trans-Neptunian object 2014 UN271 to be a comet is rather new (June 22nd, 2021) and really exciting. That comet is rather huge (~100km diameter) and "falling toward ...
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3answers
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Undiscovered dwarf planets
Scientists think there may be dozens of undiscovered dwarf planets in the Solar system. What I find intriguing is that, we have been able to detect distant galaxies and clusters, locate supermassive ...
5
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1answer
557 views
How do astronomers calculate the period about the wave motion of the solar system in the Milky Way?
According to research, excluding the motion of the entire galaxy, astronomers found the motion of the solar system in the Milky Way.
The solar system revolve around the galactic bulge of the Milky ...
2
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2answers
113 views
Does Soter take into account Pluto's and Orcus' masses when determining Neptune's planetary discriminant µ?
Does Steven Soter's planetary discriminant µ1 for Neptune take into account the masses of Pluto, Orcus and other Kuiper belt objects crossing or coming very close to Neptune's orbit? If so, Neptune ...
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1answer
116 views
Why is the globe/compass symbol used more often than the globus cruciger for Earth? [closed]
Why is that symbol 🜨 used more often (or almost always) when portraying e.g. Earth mass or Earth radii than the globus cruciger ♁ ? From my point of view the globus cruciger fits much better as ...
8
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2answers
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If the hypothesized planet behind the Kuiper belt existed, would it have a barycenter outside the Sun?
In 2016, an additional object rotating our Sun has been suggested. Assuming it has 5 Earth masses, would the planet or black hole proposed by Brown and Batigyn have a barycenter within the Sun or ...
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2answers
129 views
Conversion of Moon's Celestial Position (RA and dec) to Horizontal Coordinates [closed]
I'm currently attempting to calculate the equatorial sky position of the Moon for any given Geostatic position (longitude / latitude) for any given datetime.
I have tested my altitude and azimuth ...
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0answers
86 views
Longest and Shortest day of the year in all planets
Can we trace the longest and shortest day of the year in other planets of Solar system similar to earth planet i.e. Mars, Saturn, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Neptune, Uranus?
3
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1answer
160 views
Is this how stars’ right ascensions correlate to planets’ longitudes on a 2d map?
This is my first ever online question, so please bear with me:
I’m working on an A1-sized map of at least 100 of the largest solar system bodies (henceforth just called ‘planets’, ignorning the IAU ...
2
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2answers
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Could Enceladus be too salty to support life?
The process of osmosis makes it possible for water to be sucked through a semi-permeable membrane in order to balance the concentrations of two solutions. Thus, a sufficiently salty ocean might drain ...
