Questions tagged [solar-system]
Questions regarding the Sun and objects orbiting it.
482
questions
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1answer
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I saw a weird thing around Venus
I pointed my telescope
(50mm aperture, 500mm focal length, 4mm eyepiece, image taken through a window)
at Venus and saw this:
What is it? I don't think this is Uranus or Neptune as my telescope is ...
3
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0answers
64 views
Discovery papers for Uranus and Neptune
I would like to have the discovery papers, notices or announcements done by Herschel with Uranus and Le Verrier with Neptune. I know that Herschel adressed the Royal Society and Le Verrier sent some ...
2
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1answer
48 views
Apparent Centering Problem When Using the Perifocal System to Draw Orbital Ellipses [closed]
I am attempting to render orbital ellipses in software. Given a set of orbital elements, I am using the Perifocal system to determine a set of points along the curve of the ellipse. I am using the ...
0
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0answers
25 views
What meteor shower has the radiant that appears furthest west after sunset, and why?
When it finally gets answered, answers to How to calculate the position of a meteor shower's radiant point based on its associated comet's orbit? will help us understand why the radiant points ...
3
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2answers
156 views
If the solar system is nearly flat, then why don't all the planets appear to lie on the same axis when viewed from earth?
For instance, consider the image below. The location of the planets seem to be so random relative to Earth. If the solar system was indeed flat, then I would expect the planets to lie on the same '...
3
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3answers
99 views
Impact on the rest of the solar system if Mercury or Venus were disassembled?
I've watched a few theoretical videos about Dyson spheres where they mention that the most practical way to do that would be to disassemble a planet - preferably one already close to the sun - Mercury ...
4
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0answers
44 views
Why is our heliosphere an asymmetric croissant shape?
The big, recent astronomy news about our heliosphere's asymmetric croissant shape has me confused....
Some articles mention the influence on our solar system's outermost boundary of very hot cations, ...
4
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1answer
54 views
Has any of the orbiters or rover on Mars captured image of comet NEOWISE?
We are seeing stunning pictures of comet NEOWISE from earth (and ISS too), are there any pictures captured from Mars by an orbiter or rover, or any other spacecraft?
1
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0answers
65 views
Radiation and software reliability in outer space [closed]
We all know that dragon was written in c++ but what i struggle to understand is that if radiation in space can really mess with hardware and functionality and even have the capacity to change bits ...
3
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0answers
67 views
How to calculate the position of a meteor shower's radiant point based on its associated comet's orbit?
Below this answer to Why are Delta Aquariids “for the southern hemisphere” while the Perseids are “for the north”? I wrote the comment:
+1 To make this complete, ...
1
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2answers
69 views
What effects does the motion of the Sun have on the perihelion precession of Mercury?
According to the wikipedia page, there are multiple effects contributing to the perihelion precession of Mercury.
Of course, according to this link and this link we know that the Sun is itself ...
4
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1answer
128 views
Is there evidence for galactic “seasons”?
The Solar Year has huge effects on our climate, and the signs of passing seasons are physically evident on Earth. I recently learned about the Galactic Year. To my understanding, our sun orbits the ...
9
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3answers
2k views
Comet Neowise c2020 f3 will return in ~6800 years, how can we be sure Earth will be in the right place to see it then?
I have read in several places that the orbital period of comet Neowise c2020 F3 is about 6800 years. In several popular media sources it is said that we will be able to see the same comet after ~6800 ...
3
votes
2answers
500 views
Why Comet C/2020 F3 Neowise returns even it's orbit is near- parabolic?
I have read in Wikipedia about Comet C/2020 F3 Neowise that it's orbit is near-parabolic. But in another section, it says that it is a non-periodic comet whlith orbital period ranging from 4500 years ...
12
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2answers
2k views
Is it true that we see the center of the milky-way for only half of the year?
I'm not an astronomer, please excuse my non-formal language.
Since we are located in one of the arms of the Milky way, the center of the galaxy should be in one direction from our location, while in ...
1
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1answer
87 views
Could a near collision with small black hole account for the effects of the 9th planet?
Much interest has been raised about the existence of a 9th planet. One reason for this is the strange orbits of bodies in the outer solar system. Could the orbits be explained by a near collision of a ...
14
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1answer
381 views
Can the paper narrowing Solar System's barycentre to within 100m help find Planet Nine?
I've just read this recent news article, Astronomers Have Located The Centre of The Solar System to Within 100 Metres, reporting on a paper[1] that claims narrowing the Solar System barycentre to ...
7
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1answer
847 views
Could the Sun and our Solar System one day leave our galaxy?
I have now learned that the Sun is not fixed in place, so I asked myself this question: It is possible, that the Sun and our Solar System will one day leave our galaxy? If yes, how, and if no, why not?...
0
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1answer
42 views
What's the exact story of jupiter and our earth, not becoming a super-earth?
I've been watching the Cosmos documentaries by Neil DeGrass Tyson and the ones from Brian Cox, and in one episode (I don't remember from which series) there's something about the creation of the rocky ...
3
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1answer
41 views
Calculation to Convert from Equatorial to Heliocentric coordinate systems
Can anyone help me with the formulas to convert Equatorial coordinates (Right Ascension / Declination) into Heliocentric coordinates (Angle and Distance in relation to the Sun) ?
i.e. Ra/Dec of 6.7659/...
1
vote
1answer
84 views
Will Triton have a thicker atmosphere as the Solar System ages?
With an average temperature of around 34 kelvin, Triton is extremely cold. Currently, it has a thin mostly nitrogen atmosphere with a pressure of around 1 Pa. However, its surface has large deposits ...
1
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1answer
118 views
What were the nine planets in 1899?
I'm currently reading Planetary Geology, in which they state
When Ceres [...] was discovered in 1899, it was considered as the lost tenth planet.
Uranus and Neptune had been discovered, but Pluto ...
0
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0answers
32 views
Model/Infographic of plane of orbits and rotations planes of solar bodies (including their moons)
Is there a model/infographic with emphasis on the orbit and rotation plane of solar bodies? Of course, no scaling is needed for the size or distance. I remember reading there is one planet where the ...
3
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1answer
60 views
Was the solar system flat before the planets formed? Or does the Kozai-Lidov mechanism flatten orbits after the gas giants form?
An astronomer living on Jupiter measures the orbits of the inner planets against Jupiter's ecliptic. Their inclinations are; Mercury 5.7 deg. Venus 2.1 deg. Earth 1.3 deg. Mars 0.6 deg. It looks ...
6
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2answers
65 views
What is the definition of the “solar mixing ratio”?
What is the definition of the "solar mixing ratio"?
Specifically, I'd like to know why the ratio of H2 and He is 0.84 and 0.16 at the "solar mixing ratio" as shown in Table I in The Galileo Mission.
11
votes
2answers
174 views
Are there Earth rocks on Mars?
Certain meteorites found on Earth have been established to come from Mars: a giant impact ejected rocks from Mars, these rocks traveled through interplanetary space, and went through the Earth's ...
1
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1answer
88 views
How do we define “up and down” in space?
Every model of the solar system seems to follow a specific orientation in which the upper side of the system is Earth's north half and the lower side of the system is Earth's southern half. So is ...
1
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0answers
50 views
Longest time after an image was taken when a new solar system body was discovered from it?
This answer to If there's nothing special about Pluto, why was it discovered so early? says:
In fact, often objects are discovered to be in pictures from long ago, such as Orcus, discovered in 2004,...
38
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1answer
4k views
Closest star system to Alpha Centauri?
The closest star system to our Solar System is Alpha Centauri.
But is our Solar System the closest star system to Alpha Centuari?
If not, which star system is?
24
votes
2answers
10k views
Is Jupiter a failed star?
The elemental make-up of Jupiter is about entirely hydrogen and helium, along with a very small fraction of the atmosphere being made up of compounds such as ammonia, sulfur, methane, and water vapor. ...
1
vote
1answer
130 views
How frequently do Jupiter & Regulus have triple conjunctions?
I am wanting to know if the triple conjunction of Jupiter with Regulus in:
Sep 10, 3 BC
Feb 7, 3 BC &
May 8, 2 BC
with Jupiter later having a conjunction with Venus in Jun 17, 2 BC has happened ...
-1
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3answers
87 views
What would happen to the Earth if the orbit of another planet in the Solar System was disrupted by a cataclysmic collision with a large body?
There's plenty of speculation about what would happen if a large asteroid collided with the Earth itself, but less about the effect on Earth of a large asteroid or even a moon or minor planet ...
2
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3answers
70 views
Looking for a Solar System Simulator including the smaller celestial body, for macOS
I am researching for a sci-fi novel that will happen in 2136. For this I would like to know specific positions of "smaller" celestial bodies in our Solar System.
An example can be the dwarf planet ...
2
votes
1answer
119 views
Has a near earth object in heliocentric orbit ever been bright enough to be visible to the unaided eye?
The question Can we see asteroid 1998 OR2 with unaided eye? got me thinking. Space.com's Vesta: Facts About the Brightest Asteroid says:
Vesta is the second most massive body in the asteroid belt, ...
3
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0answers
108 views
Help identifying a very slow-moving object during meteor shower photography
I just wonder if anyone could shed any light on this puzzle.
Two nights ago whilst I was out photographing the Lyrids meteor shower from the UK something else showed up on my images when I checked ...
1
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0answers
41 views
Have meteor showers been predicted for planets or solar-system bodies other than Earth? Have attempts been made to detect them?
Per the linked Q's and A's in Why do particles from a comet that result in meteor showers spread out mostly along the comet's orbit? and it's answer, meteor showers happen on Earth when it passes ...
0
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0answers
18 views
Roughly what fraction of comet orbits that intersect Earths' orbit result in known meteor showers?
Per the linked Q's and A's in Why do particles from a comet that result in meteor showers spread out mostly along the comet's orbit? and it's answer, meteor showers happen on Earth when it passes ...
7
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2answers
475 views
Why do particles from a comet that result in meteor showers spread out mostly along the comet's orbit?
My understanding of the meteor showers that repeat yearly is that the Earth passes through the orbit of a comet that is nowhere near us, and might not even exist anymore, yet it's orbit is filled with ...
36
votes
2answers
5k views
How can comets have tails if there's no air resistance in space?
I understand that solar radiation causes material to vaporize out of a comet into dust but why does the dust then trail behind the comet like a "tail"?
Assuming gravity is the only applied force ...
3
votes
1answer
80 views
Is there any thing special with an axial tilt of roughly 25°?
Half of the planets in the solar system have an axial tilt of $25.5\pm 3^\circ$: earth (23.5°), mars (25.3°), saturn (26.7°) and neptune (28.3°). If random collisions in the early solar system caused ...
1
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0answers
44 views
Binary stars and gas giant formation
Say there's a young s-type binary star system with 2 Sun-like stars. From what I understand for a stable orbit to be possible, a planet's farthest orbital point from its host star has to be around 1/5 ...
10
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0answers
68 views
The compatibility of the Grand Tack hypothesis with the “core-warping impact” theory of Jupiter's diffuse core
In recent years, the Juno mission revealed that Jupiter's core was much more diffuse than astronomers had expected.
One theory is that "within a few million years" of its formation, Jupiter ...
2
votes
1answer
55 views
How close would the sun have to get to a supermassive black hole to have Jupiter stripped and slingshot into interstellar space?
Please make whatever assumptions are needed. Assume sun approaches black hole on some sort of hyperbolic trajectory. Assume size of supermassive black hole is same as the one at center of our galaxy....
3
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1answer
112 views
So, what, exactly, is a tropical period?
From timezone.com's On the Units of Time Part III: The Year February 19, 2001, by Edward Hahn:
Uh, Oh…He’s Going to Ask That Question Again…
So, what, exactly, is a year?
@PM2Ring's comment
FWIW, ...
2
votes
1answer
35 views
Why were solar constant measurements before TSIS-1 all about 0.3% high?
Phys.org's Solar energy tracker powers down after 17 years says:
"The big surprise with TSI was that the amount of irradiance it measured was 4.6 watts per square meter less than what was ...
0
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2answers
141 views
Is a year really 365.24 days, or is it 365.2564 days like I remember?
The NPR News item and podcast Spring Starts Today All Over America, Which Is Weird includes the following:
But why isn't the time of the equinox the same each year?
The short answer is that the time ...
1
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0answers
70 views
Satellite grids around other planets [closed]
We send a lot of rovers to Mars, as interesting as the planet could possibly be. But why are we not putting satellite grids around planets that could transmit superficial probe data at the very least?...
1
vote
1answer
67 views
What would be the best inertial reference frame to describe objects in the solar system (other than the solar system's barycenter)?
For the purpose of a project, I require the components that describe the inertial frame to be as independent as possible from solar system bodies itself. Since the solar system barycenter is itself ...
10
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4answers
373 views
Why is there no concavity in the orbit of the moon around the Sun?
Such questions have been asked here and I have read the answers some of which are quite informative. However, I want an answer that's straightforward.
I have gone through the following paper by A B ...
6
votes
1answer
95 views
How frequently are other planets in the Solar system hit by meteorites?
How frequently are other planets in the Solar system hit by meteorites? For example, is the rate per unit area about the same?
