Questions tagged [solar-system]
Questions regarding the Sun and objects orbiting it.
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Are we made of the stuff of one star or more stars?
[T]his coincidence enabled stars in the late stages of their lives to turn helium into carbon, oxygen and most of the other atoms that you and I are made of. [...] [W]e're made of star stuff.
Max ...
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1answer
993 views
Emulation of an Orrery
Orrery is a clockwork model of the solar system. I am trying to emulate one in 2D. Now, to emulate, I need to know what goes on inside. Can someone please explain the basic principle behind the ...
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2answers
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What was the length of year 1 million years back?
We know that the universe is gradually expanding and this indirectly means that the gravitational force between sun, earth, planets and other stars (roughly anything in the universe) is gradually ...
19
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2answers
678 views
Hypothetical trans-Neptunian planets orbiting the Sun
The planet HD 106906 b was found at 650 AU from its home star, a star not so different from the Sun. Fomalhaut b is also a young planet that is orbiting very far away from its star.
These two planets ...
14
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3answers
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Is the Jupiter-Sun system considered a binary system of some type?
Since Jupiter is very massive, it is the only planet (in our solar system) that has a center of mass with the Sun that lies outside the volume of the Sun. (Source)
If Jupiter was a star, they would ...
12
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1answer
129 views
Is there a pattern between the mass of a body and the mass of orbiting objects around it?
I was looking at Wikipedia's Solar system page, and it says that Sun represents 99.86% of the whole solar system mass. I found that pretty huge.
So i calculated ratio of masses : Earth / (Earth + ...
9
votes
2answers
926 views
Why do the planets in the Solar system stay in the same orbital plane?
An earlier question addressed why all planets formed in the same orbital plane, but how is this angle maintained? What prevents the planets from taking on a different orbital plane?
6
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1answer
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Source of T Tauri wind?
What particularly causes the T Tauri star to eject the strong bipolar wind which clears the gases around the star?
11
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1answer
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Finding the solar noon based on longitude and latitude?
Please could someone advise the best method of finding the solar noon based on location?
http://pveducation.org/pvcdrom/properties-of-sunlight/suns-position
The stuff on here has been helpful but I ...
9
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1answer
124 views
What does observational evidence say about the number of protoplanets believed to exist in the early solar system?
Currently, the solar system has 8 major planets, a handful of dwarf planets and a plethora of asteroids, comets and natural debris, and of course, a rather locally dominant star (the Sun). There are ...
11
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1answer
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What effects do other planets have on the solar system?
For instance, Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system. Due to it's gravitational mass it can deflect meteorites and protect Earth from the Oort cloud. While these are positives, the ...
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What reason is there to doubt the existence of the hypothesised planet Tyche in the far distant solar system?
Please note, I do not necessarily believe in its existence, just after a scientific (hence, non-Wikipedia) reasoning to doubt the planet's existence, other than the "we would have seen it" argument. ...
7
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1answer
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Are Barlow lenses stackable for bright objects?
I'm back to the refractor that I own, and I want to maximize the zoom capacity. I realized today that I own more than one barlow lens, and I was wondering if I could stack them together for looking at ...
19
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1answer
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How do/did we figure out that planets move in orbits?
I've learned that planets move in orbits around the Sun, but I really don't know how I would come to this conclusion myself. I've only seen planets in the sky a couple times (knowingly), and I am ...
40
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2answers
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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 ...
18
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2answers
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How many planetary systems exist in our galaxy?
For many years scientists have studied our own solar system and modern technology allows them to look deeper and deeper into space. Knowing the Sun is only one of a few billion stars in the Milky Way ...
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5answers
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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 ...
8
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2answers
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Did the Late Heavy Bombardment Period Happen Because of a Stellar System Collision?
I was thinking about the impending collision between M31 and the milky way galaxy, and I've heard that since a galaxy is mostly space most of the contents of both galaxies would be just fine. Could a ...
15
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3answers
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What Causes the Large Radiation Fields Around Jupiter?
I had heard that the large radiation belts around Jupiter may be formed by liquid metallic hydrogen in (or around) Jupiter's core (which Wikipedia says haven't been observed in labs yet due to the ...
8
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1answer
395 views
Have Pluto or any of its moons been mapped?
I was looking over some of the data for the terrestrial planets, and noticed that Venus, despite its cloud covering, had been mapped by the Arecibo Observatory. Also that other planets such as mars, ...
10
votes
2answers
670 views
Which is the closest exoplanet to Earth?
The closest star to Earth (after the Sun) is well-known: Alpha Centauri, 4.3 light years away. But what about the closest exoplanet to Earth, outside of the Solar System?
11
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2answers
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Does the Moon Have Enough Water for Robert Zubrin's Mars settlement Plan To Work?
In Robert Zubrin's "The Case for Mars" he outlines a plan to settle Mars by(among other things) finding water and using electrolysis to break up water into Hydrogen and Oxygen. This provides fuel for ...
21
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1answer
415 views
How often do comets survive passage by the Sun?
I had heard that comet ISON might not survive a close pass by our Sun, and I was curious about the odds of how other comets had fared. So, how often do other comets survive a close pass by our sun? ...
13
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1answer
143 views
What implications do younger Earth and Moon have on Late Heavy Bombardment genesis hypotheses?
The Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB) or the Lunar Cataclysm is when the inner solar system, including the Earth and the Moon, underwent multiple and sustained heavy impacts early in their history (around ...
15
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2answers
265 views
Are any Pluto-sized objects remaining to be discovered in the Kuiper Belt?
An object approximately the same size as Pluto, Eris, was discovered only 8 years ago (in 2005). Are there any Pluto-sized objects remaining to be discovered, and if so, how far away from the Sun ...
18
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2answers
568 views
What are the current observational constraints on the existence of Nemesis?
Nemesis is a hypothetical companion to the Sun on a very eccentric, long-period orbit. The star supposedly returns every few tens of millions years, driving comets into the inner solar system and ...
8
votes
1answer
493 views
Effect of Charon on Pluto
Even though Pluto is not known as a planet anymore, theroetically it has/had a moon, called Charon. I've heard about something that their size are so close to each other that while Charon rotates ...
15
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2answers
333 views
Do any known exoplanetary/solar bodies have “annular” eclipses similar to Earth's?
This was somewhat inspired by this question but is a bit different: I am interested in if there are any known systems in which the angular size of the eclipsing object is almost the same as the ...
34
votes
1answer
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Why do the planets in our solar system orbit in the same plane?
(Yes I'm excluding Pluto from this the same way it was excluded for not being a planet)
Observing the planets orbit of the Sun they all seem relatively planar and roughly all orbit along the same ...
6
votes
3answers
628 views
What proportion of planetary systems have been found with 'Hot Jupiters'
According to the NASA website "The strange attraction of Hot Jupiters", one of the main types of exoplanets that have been detected are Hot Jupiters, which are
These are behemoth worlds that orbit ...
