Unanswered Questions
872 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
15
votes
0answers
401 views
What are Kepler's laws (as he wrote them)?
There are of course many, many sources that quote Kepler's laws of planetary motion. This is preventing me from finding out what I really want to know: which is - what are Kepler's laws as he wrote ...
12
votes
0answers
195 views
How small can a spiral galaxy be?
The smallest observed spiral galaxies I can find are NGC 2976 and NGC 4605, both with a diameter of 20 kly, but I don't have anything like an exhaustive source to search. I've also found a mention ...
11
votes
0answers
274 views
What was the absolute limit to the possible sizes of the first stars formed from “primordial material with no metals”?
This answer to Why don't or (can't) stars be more than 325 or so times the mass of the sun? What limits their size? includes the following:
...The upper limit you refer to is for compositions similar ...
10
votes
0answers
487 views
How to determine scalar-to-tensor ratio r from CMB polarization spectrum?
CMB polarization spectrum can tell us about the primordial scalar and tensor perturbation. By analyze B and E mode angular spectrum power spectrum and temperature power spectrum we can determine the ...
9
votes
0answers
66 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 ...
9
votes
0answers
217 views
What is the limiting abundances of elements at the end of the stelliferous era?
Is there any reputable published source on expected elemental abundances at the end of the era of stellar fusion? I am here interested in the contents of galaxies; much of intergalactic gas will be ...
9
votes
0answers
207 views
Planning to revisit Arthur Eddington's experiment from 1919
As the fateful day draws closer, the United States will host a celestial event that comes once in three generations. I plan to witness this first hand at the exact center of greatest eclipse.
In the ...
8
votes
0answers
133 views
How does the gravitation of Jupiter or other big planets affect Kepler's third law?
Does anyone know any good reference on this?
I remember reading once about how Jupiter's gravitation can be treated as a perturbation, but I cannot find it again now. I think they expanded Jupiter's ...
8
votes
0answers
239 views
What fraction of a star's hydrogen store will be fused over its lifespan?
A main sequence star will fuse some of its hydrogen, but not all. In massive stars ($>1.5M_\odot$) the core is convective but the rest of the atmosphere radiative and hence does not mix much: as it ...
8
votes
0answers
78 views
How can maser emission be unpolarized?
I was reading that:
However, unlike Galactic sources such as W3(OH), the emission is unpolarized and the 1667 MHz line is stronger than the 1665 MHz line.
but how is this possible? Does not the ...
8
votes
0answers
115 views
Estimating the tangential and cross component of the galaxy's shear using Gnomonic projection
I would like to know how I can estimate the tangential and cross component of the galaxy's shear using Gnomonic projection of the right ascension and declination ...
7
votes
0answers
49 views
What are the 4 candidates for Planet Nine reported in 2017?
From Wikipedia Planet Nine#Citizen science:
In April 2017, using data from the SkyMapper telescope at Siding Spring Observatory, citizen scientists on the Zooniverse platform reported four ...
7
votes
0answers
105 views
Error propagation methods for orbit parameters
Recently I've encountered an article in our local astronomical popularization magazine. It is about a well known task of Sgr A*-black hole's mass estimation. The article is written as a step by step ...
7
votes
0answers
185 views
Is the wind's intensity on Mars similar to Earth?
I've read that in Mars' poles, the winds can be as fast as 400 km/h, when the poles are exposed to sunlight because the frozen $CO_2$ sublimes. I know that the Martian atmosphere is much thinner than ...
6
votes
1answer
119 views
Does Saturn raise tides on Titan's lakes?
Titan is the only body in the Solar System other than Earth to have large bodies of surface liquid. Since Saturn is much more massive than the Moon, I would expect for tides, if they're present to ...
