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Q&A

Posts tagged astronomy

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Rigorous Science Could a planet be habitable due to illumination from the galactic core?

I recently saw this answers where it was suggested that the galactic core could illuminate a planet suffiently to make sure it is always summer on one side of the planet. This got me curious and af...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by TheDyingOfLight‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by TheDyingOfLight‭

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Q&A Can a planet with a very long day/night harbor life such as Earth?

The year of this planet is 1,000 earth-days-long around its star, and its night lasts half a year. Can it support life such as Earth? With humans and lush forests and liquid water and good tempe...

2 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by Maxwell‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Maxwell‭

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Q&A Planetary neighbors

Let's say there is another planet in our solar system that harbours sentient life and this sentient life can build castles, buildings, and other such structures. When would we notice that? We ca...

5 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by AIwithstick‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by AIwithstick‭

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Q&A Moons that can't see each other

Could 2 moons that orbit same terrestrial planet never see each other if they orbit the planet at same time? Moons have different mass and gravity.

3 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by AIwithstick‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by AIwithstick‭

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Q&A What would happen if the Earth passed through an interstellar dust cloud?

I understand an interstellar dust cloud as "an accumulation of gas, plasma, and dust in our and other galaxies. Put differently, an interstellar cloud is a denser-than-average region of the interst...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Renan‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Renan‭

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Q&A Making a slow orbit around a large gas giant

First of all, this website is a dream come true. I'm a total sucker for this stuff. Secondly, I love astronomy and worldbuilding, and lately, I've been thinking of a hypothetical situation, and wa...

5 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by elciott‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by elciott‭

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Q&A Subtle ways to render a planet uninhabitable

A violent way of rendering a planet uninhabitable being the obvious: accelerate a large enough object to a sufficient velocity that everything on the planet goes the way of the dinosaurs. Put brie...

6 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by ramuf‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by ramuf‭

Question astronomy planets
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Rigorous Science Can early astronomers determine the gravity of their planet's "moon" without ever going there?

As I was thinking about space flight for my world, I thought about how they would need to know a planet's gravitational force before they could land, and found that humans figured out the moon's gr...

5 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Foosic17‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Foosic17‭

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Q&A The North Star in the ancient world sky

Question: Would a modern-day teen, trained in using the north star for directions when camping/hiking, notice a difference in how the "north star" (Polaris) works when transported suddenly to 1350 ...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Cyn‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Cyn‭

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Rigorous Science Rogue Planet Illuminated by Galactic Centre

The black hole question reminded me of an idea I wanted to implement at some point in a space campaign, but didn't go forward with because I was unsure whether it's merely statistically very implau...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by vicky_molokh‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by vicky_molokh‭

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Q&A Life around Cepheid Variable stars

Are there any unique challenges life would face evolving on a planet orbiting a Cepheid Variable star? I'm aware this is a broad question, so to narrow it down, consider this a question about Grea...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Ryan_L‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Ryan_L‭

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Q&A Is it possible to have a planet with earth-like mass but double the atmospheric pressure?

I'm no scientist and my poor brain box is on its last legs; I was wondering if any of you smart beans out there would be able to help me figure this out? Here are the specs of my system; Kereiol i...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by MissMermaid‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by MissMermaid‭

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Q&A Looking for a review of my tidally locked red dwarf planet system specs!

Hello! I've put together my first planetary system, but as I'm not a scientist (and bad at maths) I'm reaching the limits of my brainbox and would really appreciate some fact checking! I have quest...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by MissMermaid‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by MissMermaid‭

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Q&A How Far Can The Stars Ve and Vili Orbit The Main One, Odin?

In this solar system, there are three K-type main sequence stars, or "orange dwarves", named Odin, Vili and Ve. At the center of this solar system, Odin is 80% the mass of our sun. The middle sta...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by JohnWDailey‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by JohnWDailey‭

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Q&A If Janus and Epimetheus had moons

Imagine a planet with two moons that have an orbital pattern similar to that of Janus and Epimetheus of Saturn... Is there a way for one of these moons to keep a stable pair of Trojan sub moons? ...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by PowerOverwhelming‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by PowerOverwhelming‭

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Q&A Intelligent life wiped out in a binary system with a neutron star?

For the purposes of my story, I have created the following setting. An Earth-like planet orbits a binary star system made up of a Sun-like star and a neutron star. For the majority of time (hundre...

4 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by marmel‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by marmel‭

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Q&A For people on earth, is it possible to harvest energy by decelerating the planet rotation?

I was working on a side project to design an alien fleet that is wandering in the universe, and harvesting energy from planets for their needs. While I can think of ways to make that happen (geothe...

3 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Chenxi GE‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Chenxi GE‭

Question astronomy
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Q&A If Sweden was to magically float away, at what altitude would it be visible from the southern hemisphere?

If a chunk of land mass the size and position of Sweden took off and floated away in a straight line, exiting the atmosphere and orbiting earth, at what distance would it be visible from, let's say...

5 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Pangolin‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Pangolin‭

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Q&A If a moon shattered into pieces, what would happen?

Say I have a planet with 10-20 moons of varying sizes orbiting it. If one of these moons were to explode/shatter into tiny pieces (I know this is probably impossible, but if we pretended it were po...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Rohan Shankar‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Rohan Shankar‭

Question astronomy moons
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Rigorous Science Can a planet survive a supernova?

The Sun has nowhere near enough mass to enter the branch of stellar evolution that would lead to a supernova, fortunately for us. However, there are planets that orbit stars that are destined to go...

5 answers  ·  posted 9y ago by HDE 226868‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by HDE 226868‭

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Q&A What would the consequences be of a high number of solar systems being within close proximity to one another?

What would the consequences be of a high number of solar systems being within close proximity to one another? I'm mainly interested in the consequences for life on multiple planets. When I say 'clo...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Sezaii‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Sezaii‭

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Q&A How long would this eclipse last?

For a moon orbiting a gas giant which is in turn orbiting a star, I want to know how long the eclipse would last for an observer standing on the moon when the planet passes between the moon and the...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Dalila‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Dalila‭

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Q&A At What Point Does a World's Twin Planet Disappear, from the Viewer's Perspective?

This is Yeola~Camay. A double planet orbiting Sharro, an ordinaryish star somewhere in the universe of Far Far Away. As you can plainly see, Yeola is the planet on the left & Camay is the p...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by elemtilas‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by elemtilas‭

Question astronomy planets
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Q&A What light would my cloudy planet receive from a red dwarf star?

What light spectrum would hit the surface of a planet orbiting a red dwarf star? The planet is a humid greenhouse with a cloudy atmosphere and a strong ozone layer. Over 80% of the surface is wate...

6 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by CatoRockwell‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by CatoRockwell‭

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Rigorous Science Explaining a Low-Mass Brown Dwarf

Considering the well-established relationships between stellar mass, surface temp, and luminosity, how unusual would it be to find a star (or brown dwarf) that possesses about half the mass of an a...

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by Rich Durst‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Rich Durst‭

Question space astronomy stars
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Q&A Could a society exist within a brown dwarf?

Brown dwarf stars are cool. Both literally and figuratively; the temperature profile for cool brown dwarves runs somewhere between 225K and 600K. It's possible if not probable that there exist som...

6 answers  ·  posted 9y ago by ilinamorato‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by ilinamorato‭

Question astronomy
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Q&A Could a brown dwarf in our outer solar system remain undetected today?

We've all heard the on-again, off-again theories of another massive object in the vast reaches of the outer solar system. Some potential evidence to support the possibility are its affects on small...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Cereza‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Cereza‭

Question space astronomy
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Q&A Would ripping the core from a Sun-like star cause it to explode?

I'm well aware that a Sun-like star is incapable of producing a supernova at the end of its life. However, would removing the core or a fraction of it, trigger an explosion from the star collapsing...

3 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by Joe Kissling‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Joe Kissling‭

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Q&A What technologies and sciences are needed to detect a star going supernova?

What technology (at minimum), devices or minimum civilization development is needed, so that an individual member of this civilization would be able to detect that some star is going supernova? My...

3 answers  ·  posted 9y ago by trejder‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by trejder‭

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Q&A How much warning would a civilization have that a nearby star was about to go supernova?

I want to have aliens approach the Earth looking for a new world to colonize. They come from a similar planet circling a similar star, but either their star has entered its red giant phase (how lon...

2 answers  ·  posted 8y ago by Mary Wildfire‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Mary Wildfire‭

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Rigorous Science Visibility of a Red Dwarf Companion Star

An interstellar traveller stands upon the surface of an alien planet beneath the light of an unfamiliar sun. The planet upon which he stands orbits one star of a binary system in which one is a G-c...

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by Arkenstein XII‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Arkenstein XII‭

Question astronomy stars
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Q&A The (Alternative) Reason for the Seasons: Highly Eccentric Orbit

On Earth, we experience seasons because of our planet's axial tilt. It is a common misconception that the seasons are instead caused by our planet's distance from the sun changing as it orbits....

1 answer  ·  posted 7y ago by ApproachingDarknessFish‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by ApproachingDarknessFish‭

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Q&A On a planet without seasons, how would people track years?

On a planet without axial tilt and with a roughly circular orbit, there would be no seasons. The climate on the planet would be, as far as I can tell, exactly the same at any time of year, and the...

7 answers  ·  posted 9y ago by Nerrolken‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Nerrolken‭

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Rigorous Science Would mining huge amounts of resources on the Moon change its orbit?

Imagine that humanity builds mining facilities on the moon. We know that the moon has Helium-3 which could be used as fuel for fusion reactors. Also, there are a lot of other resources which could ...

4 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Mr.D‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Mr.D‭

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Q&A Black hole collides with Sun: How rapidly is energy released?

Basic idea: Primordial black hole (2.5% of Sun's mass) directly approaches Sun at fairly rapid pace (300 km/s). Consequently, six days after passing Earth's orbit, it will collide with the Sun; ac...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by ak7‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by ak7‭

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Rigorous Science To make a blue moon, what element does it need?

We know that Mars has a reddish color, because its ground consists of iron-based compounds. The moon is grey-whiteish because it consists mostly of silicon-based compounds. What element should the...

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by Mr.D‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Mr.D‭

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Q&A Is it physically possible for a planet to have seasons of different lengths?

Those of you who have read Game Of Thrones will know that in the GOT world seasons do not have a fixed duration, e.g., a winter might last three times longer than the previous one. I find most int...

20 answers  ·  posted 9y ago by Garoal‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Garoal‭

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Q&A Is there a plausible causal mechanism to explain why the Sun would be heating up faster/ sooner than we thought?

I am writing a novel about what it will be like on earth 500 or so years before the death of our Sun. The Sun is heating up gradually and one day that will negatively affect life on Earth. I know t...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Dan‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Dan‭

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Q&A How close to a supernova can a planet retain an atmosphere?

I already read Can a planet survive a supernova? but that just addresses some kind of planet-remnant remaining in orbit. Parameters: Binary system. One component is a Sun-like G-type star with ...

1 answer  ·  posted 7y ago by cometaryorbit‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by cometaryorbit‭

Question space astronomy
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Q&A How can a moon have an ever-changing face?

Imagine an inhabitated planet like ours with a moon of the same projected size in the sky. The moon has visible structures of colors or darker and lighter areas. Every evening when the moon gets ...

18 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Elmy‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Elmy‭

Question astronomy moons
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Q&A Plausible reasons for multiple hot seasons in one solar year

Setup: A planet generally with an earthlike climate, although slightly wetter and warmer as a general rule, with a little more oxygen in the atmosphere, but habitable by unmodified humans. Still h...

10 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by dwllama‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by dwllama‭

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Q&A Cosmological consequences of a world with super-high refraction and atmosphere opaqueness

Disclaimer: the overall idea of the world as presented is basically lifted from Strugatsky Brothers "Inhabited Island". The details of the question are for a derivative work in that universe. Imag...

2 answers  ·  posted 9y ago by DVK‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by DVK‭

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Q&A How can a planet have a deadly eclipse-like "spotlight"?

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun. The result is a giant shadow that sweeps across the Earth's surface. This world has the opposite phenomenon. Instead of a...

13 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Devsman‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Devsman‭

Question weather astronomy
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Q&A How could a planet have a sky without stars at night?

Is it possible for a planet in our part of the galaxy to have a night without stars? I'm looking for some kind of natural phenomena that would hide the stars, but allow the sun to rise and fall as...

24 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Reactgular‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Reactgular‭

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Q&A How much heat would a 1km asteroid release into earth's atmosphere?

I am writing a theory for a game that is in an apocalypse. An asteroid is heading for earth and will crash into the earth regardless in this theory. It is 1km in size but due to the YORP effect it ...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by HeavenlyPanda‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by HeavenlyPanda‭

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Q&A Is it possible to divert a 1km Asteroid from Earth?

I am writing a scenario for a game that I am a fan of. It involves an asteroid heading for impact with the Earth in 2027. This asteroid's initial diameter is about 1km, but it is slowly disintegrat...

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by HeavenlyPanda‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by HeavenlyPanda‭

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Q&A Small eclipse on earth

Could one make a smaller eclipse kept stationary on the surface of the earth in order that one may be able to see the stars 24/7 from one site? How could this be achieved? Geostationary satelli...

4 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Cfrancisco‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Cfrancisco‭

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Q&A How close could another solar system be without adversely affecting our own?

I would like to know how close two planetary systems could be without having an adverse effect on each other. My goal is to drastically improve the chances of having habitable planets near enough t...

4 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by pipe‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by pipe‭

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Q&A Could the Sun be born again?

About 5 billion years from now, the Sun will begin to swell into a red giant. This will cause some problems, because life on a planet orbiting a red giant is hard. Even if Earth isn't engulfed by t...

3 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by HDE 226868‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by HDE 226868‭

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Q&A By what mechanism could a planet be locked into permanent solar eclipse?

I've got an image in my head of a world where it's just normal that the star is black with a golden halo around it - in other words, where the planet is in a state of perpetual solar eclipse. Are ...

4 answers  ·  posted 9y ago by Nerrolken‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Nerrolken‭