Tagged Questions
-1
votes
0answers
102 views
When can a body of water glow in space?
How would superionic water be formed at the core of a giant water planet? The publication
Giant planets may host superionic water, E. Marris, Nature News, 22 March 2005,
states that water in ...
3
votes
2answers
132 views
Could a planet sized bubble of breatheable atmostphere exist?
I'm reading a book (Sun of Suns by Karl Schroeder) that the main location is a planet called Virga, which contains air, water, and floating chunks of rock, and has no or a very small amount of ...
7
votes
3answers
223 views
How do you explain Kepler's third law in general terms without complex math?
I understand the first law-elliptical orbits, and the second-equal area in same time, but I need help with the third one. Note that I am not in an AP course or taking calculus at the moment so simple ...
6
votes
0answers
84 views
How scientists could say that such meteorite comes from Mars
How could scientists affirm that a meteorite comes from Mars and not from another source ?
This is a probability or an absolute certainty ? How much percent ?
2
votes
1answer
125 views
How does one measure Earth's speed of revolution around the sun?
I know that there are several formulae that one can plug numbers into to arrive an estimate of Earth's speed around the sun (Kepler's third law for instance), but I'm wondering how these things are ...
6
votes
1answer
56 views
Is it possible to determine astronomically/astrophysically whether other planets have ever encountered polarity reversal?
We know of geomagnetic flip in Earth's history by studying geologic data. Given other planets in the system also possess a magnetic field leads to the assumption that such polarity reversal may not be ...
42
votes
5answers
2k views
Is there a small enough planet or asteroid you can orbit by jumping?
I just had this idea of orbiting a planet just by jumping and then flying upon it on its orbit kind of like superman. So,
Would it be theoretically possible or is there a chance of that small body to ...
1
vote
1answer
181 views
Artificial planetary magnetic field
I wonder how difficult it is to create an artificial planetary magnetic field with generators? What power they would need?
The question is inspired by thinking about possible colonization of ...
3
votes
1answer
82 views
What is the maximum mass of planet HD 40307 g
Recently discovered planet HD 40307g around HD40307 Star system is claiming that its inside a habitual zone of a solar system. Besides It has water where life could be evolved.
I tried to calculate ...
4
votes
1answer
132 views
What day/night cycles, climate and seasons would experience Alpha Centauri Bb inhabitants?
Alpha Centauri Bb is an exoplanet orbiting Alpha Centauri B. It is asserted that given the close distance to the star the planet should be tidally locked.
The orbiting period of the planet is about ...
2
votes
1answer
333 views
Why are the orbits of the planets in our solar system along the same basic plane? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Why are our planets in the solar system all on the same disc/plane/layer?
After watching this video I realized that the orbits of the planets in our solar system ...
6
votes
1answer
134 views
Frequency of nomad planets passing within 30 AU of the sun
A recent estimate by the Kavli Institute for
Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (a joint
institute of Stanford and SLAC) is that there
are circa 100000 times as many 'nomad planets' as stars
I ...
8
votes
1answer
75 views
Biggest crater in the Solar System
It seems that the biggest crater in the Solar System is Borealis Basin on Mars. The Wikipedia entry and this piece of news say it has been formed by an impact with a body of around 1600 - ...
5
votes
6answers
547 views
Why does the earth rotate? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Why does every thing spin?
So why would the earth, or any planet for that matter, rotate along an axis? I know of no force which could come into play here, so i assume ...
6
votes
1answer
75 views
Axial Tilt and precession rate of exoplanets
The Earth's axis is 23.5 degrees away from othogonality to the ecliptic, and it takes about 26 000 years for it to precess fully. I have neither an intuitive sense nor the formula for precession ...
6
votes
1answer
35 views
Are there Trojan family or Hilda family satellites locked in Earth's orbit?
Jupiter has many Trojan asteroids located at Lagrangian points L4 and L5 and Hilda asteroids dispersed between points L3, L4, and L5.
Does the Earth have similar satellites? If so, how many?
3
votes
1answer
94 views
How do the day/night temperature variations of moons compare to those of their planets?
Does the planet's eclipse have a significant impact on the flux of light hitting the moon? Does tidal locking have any effect on the day-night difference of the planet?
13
votes
1answer
3k views
Is Jupiter a failed star?
In my physics lessons, my teachers have always been keen to tell my class that Jupiter is considered a 'failed star' by scientists. Is this true?
In my own effort I wondered if maybe this could just ...
19
votes
1answer
659 views
What nonlinear deformations will a fast rotating planet exhibit?
It is common knowledge among the educated that the Earth is not exactly spherical, and some of this comes from tidal forces and inhomogeneities but some of it comes from the rotation of the planet ...
