Questions tagged [solar-system]
Questions regarding the Sun and objects orbiting it.
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What is the current angle of motion of the sun with respect to the Galactic Plane?
I understand that the solar system oscillates in its motion around the Milky Way. However at any given time, there must be a specific angle between the current direction of the solar apex and the ...
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Does the Sun have different unique orbits around barycenters?
After reading this question and seeing its image I thought about this question I'm going to publish.
Does the Sun have different unique orbits around the barycenter for its multiple planets?
If yes, ...
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How did the Earth come to be in orbit around the sun?
I'm not sure if this post should be in the physics subject forum, but this seems to fit here too. I have been reading a book about chemistry and how the universe came to be with the theory of stars ...
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Observing the motion of the solar system and galaxy through space?
This is very perplexing.
Conditions:
planets are moving around the sun (solar system)
solar system is moving as part of the galaxy
the galaxy is moving through space on some axis
galaxy is part of a ...
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Cooling the early earth
My son had this theory that the icy comets cooled the hot earth during the late heavy bombardment. What do we know about this cooling effect on the early evolution of the earth? He intended his theory ...
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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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Is there a name for the star/supernova hypothesized to have been a precursor to the Solar System?
I found an article suggesting a supernova injected debris which helped nudge the formation of the Solar System 4.5 billion years ago.
I couldn't find a name for this hypothetical star/supernova after ...
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What secondary and tertiary conclusions can be drawn from the temperature characteristics of lunar soil sent by ISRO Chandrayaan 3?
ISRO Chandrayaan 3 released the following data today about the temperature characteristics of lunar soil.
What secondary and tertiary conclusions can be drawn it?
More specifically, what may be the ...
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What determines the edge/boundary of a star system?
According to Education.nationalgeographic, "A star system is a group of planets, meteors, or other objects that orbit a large star. While there are many star systems, including at least 200 ...
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Are dust-dust collisions necessary to explain Kordylewski clouds at Earth-Moon L4/5? Aren't the cross-sections, number density timescales too small?
The recent question Can dark matter accumulate at Lagrange points? mentions Kordylewski clouds and that article begins:
Kordylewski clouds are large concentrations of dust that exist at the L4 and L5 ...
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Can our Sun become a black hole
Does every star become a black hole? Is there any probability that our sun can become a black hole? If yes then is it on its way to become a black hole? what is the current state of sun as per the ...
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Are the rotational axes of Earth and Mars parallel?
So I was stuck on a question involving the transformation of coordinates from geocentric to Mars-centric coordinates. The relative position of Mars and its orbital details are given. I thought that we ...
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Why has there been no moon for 2 nights straight
I have been watching the sky all night for a week now I see flying stars everywhere well things that look like stars, what are they? And the moon has been gone for two nights now? Why?
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What is the "structure" of the Solar System while traveling through Space?
On the Image above, the arrows pointing upwards depict Solar System's travel direction. The arrows pointing to the right show its own direction of rotation and the direction of the planets within it ...
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RA/Dec of a meteor shower's radiant point based on its associated comet's orbit; simple set of equations? "Classic" early reference to cite?
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, ...
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What would happen if Venus and Earth collided?
The first thing we would need to consider is that Earth has already been hit by a protoplanet half its size 4.5 billion years ago, meaning the Earth may have a chance of staying intact after the ...
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What is the antonym of "closest approach"?
The distance from Earth to Mars, during their closest approach, is about 55 million kilometers.
At their furthest apart, that distance would be about 401 million kilometers.
Distance
at closest ...
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What is the direction of the movement of the solar system in relation to the galaxy's plane
I got from this answer that the axis of the solar system is tilted of about 63 degrees in relation to that of our galaxy, so I can assume that we move through space (at least locally) roughly in a ...
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Is there a general term for epicycles, deferents, and eccentrics in Ptolemaic astronomy?
According to Ptolemy's (c. 150 CE) account of the motions of planets, planets moved in circular paths ("epicycles") around center points that in turn moved around the center of the earth along a path ...
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Why do the Sun and gas planets rotate faster at equator than at poles?
From this site, it states that:
The Sun spins faster at its equator than at its poles.
I have also read somewhere that the gas giants (gaseous planets like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) also ...
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Why does the tropical year have a ~161 years cycle?
Using PyEphem, I calculated the time difference between consecutive summer solstices in the south hemisphere for the last 4000 years, and plotted them in a graph. It seems like random noise around the ...
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Did liquid helium help the solar system to form by cooling the nebula that collapsed to form it?
Was the gas cloud that collapsed to form the solar system cooled by liquid helium at some point in time? I ask because the Cosmic microwave background had a temperature around 3K when the solar system ...
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Where can I get raw photos of planets clicked by HST, Voyager 1 and 2, Cassini for Saturn and Galileo for Jupiter?
I intend to process RAW images of planets clicked by HST,Voyager 1 and 2, Cassini and Gallileo spacecrafts using a few softwares.
I am in search of where I can get these raw images from.
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Conditions on Earth when Mars was warmer, wetter & had a thicker atmosphere
To the question, What part of a star's habitable zone has the best chance of developing life?, I made the following comment:
It's always intrigued me as to why some people have thought that life in ...
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What (if any) role did Earth play in the evolution of the solar system?
We all know that Jupiter played a great role in the Solar System by cleaning up debris and dust from the Solar System, and deflecting asteroids. Saturn also played a similar role. Uranus and Neptune ...
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Why do planets in our solar system have different chemical compositions? [duplicate]
Was this caused by turbulence in the disc that went on to form the solar system or was the disc itself just endowed with an uneven distribution of elements?
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Can gravitational waves cause a large asymmetric planet to spin?
As planets orbit Earth it won't be perfectly spherical because of gravity But can gravitational waves make the asymmetrical Earth spin a little?
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How to calculate solar ecliptic longitude
I would like to write a small script to calculate solar ecliptic longitude in relation to different locations and dates. For instance UTC + - 1...2 etc..
I know, solar ecliptic longitude is the ...
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How certain is the Sun's classification?
Curious Question here.
How do we know the Sun is a G-Type Star?
Our sun (Classed as G2V) apparently lies around the 5,780 Kelvin. Yet NASA generalizes it as 6,000 K- and is apparently white even ...
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Do the inner-Earth planets actually align with the constellations we see?
For example, because the Sun is the center of the solar system; when we think that the Sun is on the constellation of Aries, in actuality, isn't Earth lining up with the constellation opposite Aries: ...
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Which factor most affects the accuracy of Kepler's Third Law when applied to solar system planets?
We know that Kepler's 3rd Law is not perfectly accurate due to gravitational perturbations of other planets, moons, etc., but which factors most affect the accuracy?
Is it the semi-major axis, mass of ...
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Outer Limit of Oort Cloud
In most popular astronomy articles I see the Oort Cloud described as having a radius of about two light years. Is there any firm basis for this or is it merely a guess?
If it is that big, and Alpha ...
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Protoplanetary disk luminosity - looking for a sanity check please
I've been told to "consider an Earth-mass of interplanetary grains (roughly spherical with a radius of a few microns) in a protoplanetary disk. Let the particles be in a torus with a cross-...
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Periodic motions that affect earth axis tilt
It is said that the earth axis changes its tilt with a period of 41 000 years. So used the image
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Obliquity_berger_0_to_1000000.png
removed the grid ...
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Was the recent blue spiral over Hawaii really a SpaceX rocket dumping fuel?
Is the observed phenomenon really consistent with a SpaceX rocket dumping fuel or decelerating or something? I'm skeptical. There are several things to discuss.
The speed of the blue spiral is much ...
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Where is the Solar system's barycenter located?
Where is the Solar system's barycenter located?
The solar system as a whole, Where is the center of the mass for the combined mass of the Sun, inner planets, and gas giants, is it inside the Sun? Is ...
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Is the solar system barycenter affecting the Earth weather?
I do not have the numbers but I guess the solar system barycenter should move much more than the Earth radius, and if that is correct then it should not be affecting the Earth's temperature.
I mean, ...
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Orbital decay of the sun's orbit around Sgr A*: is it likely?
What are the possibilities of the sun orbiting the black hole Sagittarius A* at a very close distance? Is there anything that could possibly alter the solar system's orbit, bringing it much closer to ...
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How many planets are there in this solar system?
So, in school (that's a long time ago) they have been teaching us there are 9 planets in our solar system.
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto
But every now and then I keep ...
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Different results for the same JPL Horizons query
On JPL Horizons website, I'm using the following query to get vector state for Earth:
...
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How to get the right ascension of the Moon?
Is there any approximate way to calculate the right ascension of the Moon? I already got declination but still, need the right ascension to calculate the final position of the moon. Thanks for all ...
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Where was the solar system born? Alternatively, how far back in time can we retrodict the location of the solar system?
I have two related questions:
Where in the Milky Way did the solar system form? Is there a particular nebula it can be traced to?
How far back in time can we track the location of the solar system ...
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Would the influence of a black hole nearby cause a tilt of 63° of our solar system in relation to our galaxy?
I am trying to understand the influence of black holes and the tilts of solar systems on their axial plane In relation to the plane of their host galaxies.
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Why is our solar system "tipped" about 63° with respect to the plane of our galaxy?
Our own solar system is "tipped" by about 63 degrees with respect to the plane of the galaxy. Has it ever been researched or is there any scientific theory which could explain the reason why our solar ...
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How scientists find the direction of rotation of planets?
How do we know that Mercury, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune rotate counterclockwise and Venus, Uranus, and Pluto rotate clockwise? How do scientists determine the direction of rotation of ...
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Could we detect the light of cities at night in other solar systems?
Would it be possible to see electric lights on distant planets using current telescopes?
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What is approximate numerical equation of the apsidal precession of the Earth-Moon barycenter?
What is approximate numerical equation of the apsidal precession of the Earth-Moon barycenter? Or is it only constant 11.45 arcsec/year with unchanged accuracy to 0.01 arcsec/year for a million years?...
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Where can I find a set of data of the initial conditions of our solar system?
As the title suggests, I'm in need of a set of data of our solar system. Similar to this http://bima.astro.umd.edu/nemo/archive/#iau25, but more specifically, the Dubinsky Milky Way-Andromeda data.
I'...
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Do conjunctions of planets block out the sun and cause measurable cooling of the atmosphere on one of the planets?
Is a significant amount of light energy blocked by one planet such that there is noticeable cooling of the atmosphere of another?
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What's the minimal argument I can give to reject The Geocentric Universe?
I'm new to Astrophysics, So pardon me if you find it silly to ask. I was just started reading about the basics of astrophysics. I read about the Greek Tradition, the concept of a geocentric universe. ...