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1500 questions
16
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Magnetic fields of peculiar HgMn A type stars
Do HgMn (peculiar A type) stars really possess global magnetic fields? See, for example, this paper by Hubrig et al. from 2012.
user2579566
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16
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Frequency of gravitational wave detection
You may have heard in the news that the LIGO experiment recently detected a gravitational wave.
Though I'm not an astronomer, the paper is a good read and mostly accessible. The detection of the gravitational wave is one thing, but the black hole…
meduz
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16
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Are we still going to have rainbows if Sun is replaced by another star?
Rainbow is a property of light splitting due to the water molecule present in the clouds and is related to the light emitted by our Sun. Our sun is a yellow star. Now if we replace sun by a blue giant star or red giant star, or any other star of…
Kushal Bhuyan
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16
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3 answers
What causes the antipodal bulge?
The Wikipedia article on tides shows a diagram with a tidal bulge both towards the Moon and on the antipodal point (the Sun isn't included in the diagram). Surely that's wrong - what would cause the antipodal bulge?
Image courtesy of Wikipedia…
rdt2
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Why don't we have 2 Summers and 2 Winters?
Due to Earth's elliptical orbit, its distance from Sun varies by almost 5 million Kilometers (147 million Kilometers at closest point & 152 million Kilometers at farthest point, i.e. almost 3% of the average distance).
As evident from the fact that…
kmdhrm
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Is it possible to measure galactic red shift using consumer telescope equipment?
I was wondering if it would be possible to measure red shift from distant galaxies using consumer grade telescope equipment and spectroscopy filters. (like this one)
I imagine it would require a tracking mount, and enough aperture to gather data on…
asawyer
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16
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2 answers
How was Io not torn apart by tidal forces during its formation?
Jupiter's moon Io is arguably one of the most volcanically active bodies in the Solar System. The reason, according to NASA's page Scientists to Io: Your Volcanoes Are in the Wrong Place is believed to be caused by Io being
caught in a tug-of-war…
user8
16
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1 answer
Time according to the gravity of Sagittarius A*?
This may be a really dumb question (I'm more of a Biologist than an Astronomer) so I apologize in advance for my little knowledge pertaining to Astronomy, but, if I'm not mistaken, time is effected by gravity, right? So what is Sagittarius A*'s time…
CDB
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16
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2 answers
Statistics of elements abundance in exoplanets
Recently, I encountered the concept of carbon planets - planets, which would be, unlike the Earth, formed mostly by carbon, instead of oxygen, silicon and magnesium. (I am not counting iron, which is mostly locked in the core). Now, I am interested…
Irigi
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What is the object in this photo?
What object is in this photo?
View coordinates: $47.25103 \ \ 38.81697$
Time: $2013$-$11$-$23 ~21$:$00 +4 ~UTC$
Sony $A580, \ 50mm f/1.4 15"$
George
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15
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What causes a neutron star to become a pulsar?
Leading on from this pulsar question, what criteria/processes make neutron stars become pulsars, do all neutron stars become pulsars?
SteB
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15
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4 answers
How would I measure that I'm at a pole?
How would a person measure that he is at a planetary pole? My first inclination is to use a sextant to ensure that the Sun remains at a constant inclination. However, due to the orbit around the Sun and a possible planetary axial tilt, the Sun's…
dotancohen
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3 answers
Why is the interstellar medium so hot?
On this link, it states the following: "large assemblies of galaxies that are permeated by even larger amounts of diffuse gas. With temperatures of 10 million degrees or more".
How are these diffused (ionized) gas able to become so hot when they…
Lays
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15
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What is the ultimate fate of a cluster of galaxies?
We're fairly aware clusters of galaxies drift apart due to space expansion, which will drive them out of each other's cosmic event horizon eventually, leaving them separate, alone, each a single "body" within its local observable universe with no…
SF.
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Do Pluto and Charon have unusual Lagrange points?
The usual examples of Lagrange points one most commonly encounters, Sun-Earth and Earth-Moon Lagrange points, are examples of 3-body problems where $M_1\gg M_2\gg M_3$. The Pluto-Charon system, however, are much closer in their relative masses, so…
Jerard Puckett
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