Questions tagged [astronomy]
For questions related to planets, moons, stars and other celestial objects, and their motion on the sky.
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How would planet Earth reason with people? [closed]
Let's say that...Planet Earth has a soul, and is a little more than a fat rock floating in space. And that around the begining of the carboniferous period, Earth was very curious to know what this ...
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What powers do you think constellations would have? [closed]
For instance, I have a character who inherits the powers of a constellation and I was going for the minor ones like Serpens. I know that Serpens has two parts to it like the Serpens Caput and Serpens ...
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5answers
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An alternative way to rotate or in this case rolltate
As far as we know Earth and every other planet in the solar system rotate around their axes. Whether it be Uranus which rotates on its side or Mercury which rotates perfectly straight, all planets ...
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1answer
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I can't seem to find correct starbuilding equations that work together anywhere and am generally confused. Which ones do you use?
So far I've been using Artifexian's How To Build A Star YouTube video. The problem with this video is that it's quite old and thus outdated. The things I've noticed to be particularly weird are the ...
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Is there a plausible way to have a Gas Giant with two or more earth to mars sized moons orbiting it in the Habitable zone?
A hypothetical scenario I'm batting around in my head is a Habitable Gas Giant system consisting of a roughly Saturn sized body orbiting a sun like star at a comfy goldilocks zone distance. Orbiting ...
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What would the sky view be like of a final stage massive merged galaxy?
What will be the view of the sky and the distances between stars, living on a planet or in a habitat in a super galaxy that has merged with all its nearby galaxies in its cluster, at a time in the ...
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1answer
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Sunrise and Sunset In a Ternary/Trinary Star System
I have looked around for some time attempting to find a post that could help me answer the question I have, but I've come up short. I'm attempting to visualize in greater detail what my planet would ...
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Roughly how long could an 'Oumuamua type object get?
Roughly how long could an 'Oumuamua type object get if created naturally or if created artificially using fused rock? What would be the limiting factor governing the length of such objects?
Oumaumau ...
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How could a spaceship, because of mechanical issues, crash-land on a planet they weren't intending on travelling to? [closed]
Apologize in advance if this sounds too much like a story-related question, but I'll try and limit it to logistics-only as much as possible.
I have a spaceship that's travelling to a colony planet ...
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How to Calculate Apparent Magnitude/Brightness of Planets from Within the same Solar System
I'd like to be able to determine the appearance of the night sky from an Earth-like planet, in a solar system with multiple other planets, moons, and other bodies. Here on Earth, we can directly ...
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1answer
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What, visually, would a hole bored in the moon look like?
If you took a giant drill (~one hundred meter circumference) and bored down two kilometers into the moon, what would it look like (assuming the lighting was good)? Is there a gradient, or is it a ...
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What would have happen to the Solar system if we were to mine a planet away [closed]
So the idea is to slowly mine a planet away , one like Mercury or Venus or Mars. Doesn't matter why or how. Only one of these planets would be removed.
How the Solar system would react?
Earth will ...
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1answer
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All planets and stars flat, how to bring day and night effect?
In a scenario in which all heavenly bodies are flat including earth. How to bring the effect of day and night effect like now i.e when day in japan and night in USA .
Considering nobody can live ...
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12answers
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What biological trait could make (certain members of) an insectoid species good at astronomy?
This is a science fiction intelligent alien biology question.
I'm imagining a race of large (around 2m in height) insect-like species on a distant planet who discovered astronomy VERY late in their ...
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2answers
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What would happen to a gas giant during a supernova?
Fairly straightforward question. Imagine a gas giant planet, like the size of Jupiter, in orbit around a massive star. The star goes supernova.
What happens to the planet? Is the energy of the ...
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1answer
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Is it possible to introduce life to a planet via preserved organism?
The dominant religion on my world (created by a race of dragon-like humanoids) believes that their species originates from an ancient being that sacrificed itself to defeat a great evil at the center ...
6
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1answer
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What does a gas giant close to a red dwarf look like?
In my setting, there's a gas giant orbiting in the habitable zone of a red dwarf (for specificity, its radius is about half Jupiter's, and it's 0.35 AU from 61 Cygni B. Ignore the effect of the other ...
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3answers
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Constructing a doomsday machine by manipulating the Higgs Field?
I've been working on a sci-fi series set about 1000 years in our future. The discovery of an alien threat leads the ruling government to conceive of a doomsday machine, which they hope will be so ...
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3answers
291 views
What would happen if all stars disappeared?
I'm imagining a hypothetical scenario based on the Big Rip theory of the end of the universe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Rip), where eventually the expansion of the universe causes everything ...
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16answers
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How can I discourage parents from exploiting celestial events?
The moon has an effect on the mana content of an individual. During high tides, a person's mana increases and becomes more powerful. This is the time in which more powerful spells can usually be ...
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In a world without stars, how would travelers navigate at night?
On Earth, sailors would navigate the oceans at night by using the stars as guides; since there are no landmarks in the ocean like there are on land (save for the occasional island), that's pretty much ...
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1answer
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Ideal sun type and corresponding effects for a terrestrial planet with 256 days in a year?
The planet has 256 days in a year, split up into eight months, each with 32 days.
My planet is a bit smaller than Earth: Think, enough space for the continents of Earth’s western hemisphere and the ...
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1answer
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Under which circumstances could a planet have two visible suns?
In the story I'm making, it is important that there are two suns in the sky, going at different rythms (maybe the planet orbits one of them each year, and the other each four years, for instance), and ...
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1answer
294 views
Software for creating a 3D planet [duplicate]
(Sorry for my English, it's not my native language. I use Google translate.)
I am looking for one or more software programs to create a sphere in 3D with longitudes, latitudes, etc. I want to be able ...
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How might an exoplanet have a highly radioactive atmosphere?
The exoplanet in question is Proxima Centauri b. How might the mid-to-upper-level atmosphere of that planet be dangerously radioactive and full of airborne nuclear reagents, without it being the ...
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Is there any conceivable way to “turn off” a star?
In my world, a group of "lamplighters" seek to turn off unused stars to conserve the energy for later use. This serves a few purposes, but mainly:
It delays the heat-death of the Universe to some ...
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2answers
149 views
Binary World Mechanics
I’m trying to develop a realistic system with a limited understanding of astrodynamics.
Is it possible to have two binary worlds capable of sustaining atmosphere and complex life orbiting one another ...
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2answers
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How well would a planet in orbit of a star above the Galactic bulge see?
I am making a story of a species who lives on a planet several light-years above the Galactic Bulge. With advanced technology, how much could they see from their vantage point? Could they carry out ...
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3answers
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Can velocity drift be used to calculate a radio wave source's distance from Earth?
If you're studying radio signals from Earth, is it possible to calculate whether a radio source is 'near' as in near Earth or 'very far away' as in somewhere far out in space from velocity, or ...
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4answers
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Is a “Partial” Black-Hole Possible?
Black holes are created by the gravitational collapse of massive stars.
But in theory, black holes can also be created by any mass at all that is confined within a small enough volume of space, ...
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6answers
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Locating rogue planet in deep space based on astronomical observations from its surface?
Assume that you have a Rogue Planet hurtling through deep space.
Somehow, an alien civilization from, say, 1,000 ly away acquires astronomical data from this planet. This data is in the form of high ...
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What's the largest igneous province an impact event could create on Earth?
With the potential for an impact event to trigger volcanic activity on the opposite side of the planet, what is the largest plateau of flood basalt physically capable of forming on Earth, post-impact?
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Is it possible for a large planetary body to embed itself onto the Earth?
With the proper composition and mass, is it possible for a planetary body to collide with Earth and embed itself onto the mantle?
To clarify, while immense destruction would undoubtedly occur to the ...
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If humans evolved on Mars instead of Earth, how quickly would we have detected life on Earth?
Suppose that both Earth and Mars was booming with life in a similar way. Except that, on Earth, there was no hominid family, and no humans evolved. Instead, humans evolved on Mars.
Assuming we had ...
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1answer
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Is it possible for an impact event to render the Earth's surface unrecognizable while still forming a large complex crater?
Is it physically possible for a complex crater to form and remain stable after an impact event large enough to deform the Earth's crust globally, insofar that the surface of the planet becomes ...
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1answer
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What does and doesn't work with this planetary system around a red dwarf?
So I have the following scenario for a story, and I want to know if it runs into any ridiculous no-nos from a scientific point of view:
There is an earth-like world orbiting a red dwarf (similar to ...
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1answer
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Could intelligent life arise on a planet that isn't 'tethered' to a star, just drifting near to one? [duplicate]
Earth's movement in space is obviously linked to the Sun, as are many other planets. But what I'm asking, is could intelligent life develop on a world that is merely 'passing by' and basking in a ...
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How Likely is a Planet Made Almost Entirely of Metals?
For this question, the word 'metals' does not refer to elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. It instead refers to metals as defined by the periodic table of elements.
After researching the ...
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Can planetary bodies have a second axis of rotation?
Is it possible for a planetary body to have a secondary axis of rotation? For example let's say there's an Earth-like body that is spinning with its North Pole facing the Sun. Imagine that the North ...
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1answer
684 views
Stabilizing Synchronized Orbit
The planet in my story, Ser, is actually in reality a moon orbiting a larger body called planet Rea. Ser is located in the L1 Lagrangian point, which means it takes the same amount of time to orbit ...
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1answer
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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 after ...
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How could a planet have one hemisphere way warmer than the other without the planet being tidally locked?
I would like a planet that's a tropical paradise on one side but covered in ice and glaciers on the opposite side, whether it be the Southern-Northern or the Western-Eastern hemisphere.
I know it ...
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5answers
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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 can ...
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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.
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2answers
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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 ...
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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 briefly,...
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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 BCE?...
asked Aug 1 '19 at 16:28
Cyn says make Monica whole
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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 ...
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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 ...
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2answers
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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 Great ...
