61
votes
Do our sun and moon have names?
What is a name?
A name is a word, that is reasonably unique, that is used to identify a person or thing. When a child is born there is no word that identifies it, and so its parents have to choose a &...
- 91.3k
44
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Is lithium considered a metal in astronomy?
The latter.
To astronomers, a metal is any element that is not hydrogen or helium, because these elements together constitute most of the elements in the Universe, by far.
This means that, in many ...
- 33.8k
42
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Hydrogen burning vs Hydrogen fusing
In stellar astrophysics, "burning" means nuclear fusion, not chemical combustion. So a star burns hydrogen to helium. (Incidentally, normal chemical burning of hydrogen in air produces water)...
- 10.4k
28
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What's the reason that we have a different number of days each month?
You make a great point. The reason behind the discrepancy between the dates is due to a complicated history behind it.
The calendar is based on the calendar created by ancient Romans, which is based ...
- 1,690
28
votes
Do our sun and moon have names?
Of course the Sun and the Moon have names. The names of those objects in English are "the Sun" and "the Moon". Note the use of a definite article ("the") and the ...
- 28.3k
23
votes
Do our sun and moon have names?
It is named 'Sol' and the moon was named 'Luna'.
Hence the term Lunar explorer and 'Solar' System..
Other cultures have used different names for our Sun and Moon (for thousands of years) - So actually ...
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23
votes
Milky Way vs Milky Way Galaxy
I think that distinction is wrong, or at least not commonly accepted.
We live in a disk-shaped galaxy, which is interchangeably called "the Milky Way", "the Milky Way Galaxy", or &...
- 33.8k
23
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Milky Way vs Milky Way Galaxy
Milky Way vs Milky Way Galaxy
I recommend recognizing and honoring the distinction!
The two words being interchangeable is a narrow view that only one well versed in Astronomy can have, and doesn't ...
- 31.8k
22
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So, what exactly is an 'ultra-cool' dwarf star?
Breaking the phrase down:
Dwarf star - a term I will never understand - is used to describe relatively small, dim stars. Unfortunately, this encompasses most main-sequence stars, which are indeed ...
- 34.1k
22
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What (the heck) is a Super Worm Equinox Moon?
All those adjectives being smooshed together signify an uncommon event. That's why you've never seen them together like that before.
All 3 conditions have to hold true:
It's a supermoon, which means ...
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18
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What is the name of meteoroids which hit Moon, Mars, or pretty much anything that isn’t the Earth?
Oxford English Dictionary is an authoritative source, but it's aimed at the general public. I think no astronomer will frown upon you when you're using the terms meteoroid and meteorite to describe a ...
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17
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"Periapsis" or "Periastron"?
No. These words are English, not Greek. "Periapsis" means the point on the orbit when the two bodies are at their closest. It doesn't matter if this good Greek or bad Greek, it is correct ...
- 91.3k
16
votes
What (the heck) is a Super Worm Equinox Moon?
All the monthly Full Moons are named e.g. list at timeanddate.com, of which "Harvest Moon" is the one people are probably most familiar with. So the March Full Moon is indeed the "Worm Moon" although ...
- 7,250
16
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What are "non-Keplerian" orbits? What are some familiar examples in our solar system, and can some still be closed?
What exactly are "non-Keplerian" orbits?
Strictly speaking, no orbits are in perfect accordance with Kepler’s laws. Kepler’s laws aren’t really “laws” in terms of physical laws, but are ...
- 14.1k
16
votes
14,000 square degrees
The whole sphere has approximately 41,253 square degrees of solid angle.
$$4\pi\left(\frac{180}{\pi}\right)^{2}\approx 41,253$$
so for a hemisphere there should be half this number or about 20,627 ...
- 1,680
15
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What are "non-Keplerian" orbits? What are some familiar examples in our solar system, and can some still be closed?
What exactly are "non-Keplerian" orbits?
Orbits that don't follow Kepler's laws.
Strictly speaking, all orbits are non-Keplerian. In practice, one can model some orbits as basically ...
- 28.3k
14
votes
What is the name of meteoroids which hit Moon, Mars, or pretty much anything that isn’t the Earth?
Wikipedia's entry for Heat Shield Rock says:
Heat Shield Rock is a basketball-sized iron-nickel meteorite found on Mars by the Mars rover Opportunity in January 2005. The meteorite was formally ...
- 31.8k
12
votes
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Usage of $\sim$, $\approx$, $\simeq$, and $\cong$ in observational astronomy?
$\simeq$ and $\approx$ both mean "approximately equal to". I don't think $\cong$ is used so often, but if I read it, I would interpret is as the same as the two others.
$\sim$ in principle means "of ...
- 33.8k
12
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What do the words "p-type" and "s-type" mean?
"Satellite type" and "Planet type".
The terms seem to have been coined by Rudolf Dvorak in 1982 paper "Planetenbahnen in Doppelsternsystemen"
Due to the fact that ...
- 91.3k
12
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What is the mnemonic reason behind b being galactic latitude? (in the Galactic Coordinates frame)
Länge und Breite are the German words for longitude and latitude. Thus 'b' seems like a natural choice for latitude and 'l' for longitude. A century ago when traditional choice of variable names were ...
- 12.2k
12
votes
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What's the meaning of virial in Astronomy, and in particular the expression "a virialized cluster of galaxies"?
A slightly modified version of the virial theorem that you cite states that for a system of N bodyes (galaxies in a cluster) autogravotating
$${1 \over 2} \ddot I = 2K + V$$
Where $K$ is the total ...
- 3,740
11
votes
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Do astronomers generally agree that the distinction between comets and asteroids is not so clear?
If we're going to get technical, Asteroids are not really an official name anymore. In 2006, when the IAU redefined what a planet was (and thus demoted Pluto), they also decided to more formally ...
- 14.4k
11
votes
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Do astronomers have an established, systematic way for saying what does or doesn't orbit what? (e.g. "Mars orbits Earth")
It is possible that there is nothing "official", there is just the technical use of language. For example Phil Plait notes that He incorrectly used the word "orbit" for the motion of the Hayabusa ...
- 91.3k
9
votes
What's the name for [the other kind of planet] in a binary star system?
I don't know about names for the planets, specifically, but the orbits are called S-type and P-type:
S-type: The planet orbits around one star, and the host star has a binary companion (i.e., "the ...
- 1,068
9
votes
Milky Way vs Milky Way Galaxy
All the various answers are making the same correct point in different ways, but I still can't resist saying this:
When you are talking about galaxies, and you want to specify our own, you can say ...
- 2,525
9
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What's the meaning of virial in Astronomy, and in particular the expression "a virialized cluster of galaxies"?
According to the Wikipedia article on the Virial Theorem:
The word virial for the right-hand side of the equation derives from vis, the Latin word for "force" or "energy", and was ...
- 2,457
9
votes
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How do I say the luminosity class aloud?
The luminosity classes are indicated by Roman numbers. So you pronounce them as numbers if you don't spell out the actual name of the luminosity class you are referring to. Pronouncing them as letters ...
- 12.2k
9
votes
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At what point are orbital resonances no longer "ordered" but "chaotic?"
Consider a child on a stationary swing. The fastest way to get them going is to push once every time they swing (a 1:1 resonance). If you push 581 times for every 137 swings, the pushes will mostly ...
- 14.1k
9
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Is there a word or short phrase that denotes the apparently moving part of the lunar limb?
It's called "the terminator line" or simply "the terminator"; where the illumination from the sun terminates.
There's a fuller discussion in EarthSky.org's What is the moon’s ...
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