The solar-system tag has no wiki summary.
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1answer
60 views
Earth and Moon computer simulation [closed]
So I want to simulate the solar system but want to start simple with one orbiting body.
However, I never did anything like this before and was wondering if anyone here could give me some hints.
...
5
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1answer
145 views
How reliant is the Solar System on being exactly the way it is?
We know that all objects with mass exert forces on all other objects of mass such that
$$ F = \frac{GMm}{R^2}.$$
And as others have discussed the planets do interfere with each other ...
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0answers
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Mercury's Orbital Precession in Special Relativity
I am researching Mercury's orbital precession. I have considered most perturbations and general relativity. I am still not satisfied. I need your help.
I need a solution to Exercise 13, Chapter 6, in ...
1
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1answer
58 views
Has martian sunset same spectra than this earthly bluish-violet sunset?
Has martian sunset same spectra than this earthly bluish-violet sunset?
What about sunset on Mercury?
1
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1answer
55 views
Rømer's determination of the speed of light
I am trying to understand Rømer's determination of the speed of light ($c$). The geometry of the situation is shown in the image below. The determination involves measuring apparent fluctuations in ...
1
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0answers
52 views
Could Voyager 1 have entered a solar radiation belt?
We currently believe that the Sun has no radiation belts because the unstable magnetic field, which turns every 11 years, is not stable enough to sustain a solar radiation belt. But observations from ...
0
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1answer
78 views
Has anyone on Earth ever seen the dark side of the moon and if so where are the pictures? [duplicate]
If the Moon rotates then we should see the dark side right? But as far as I know the Moon only shows one side to Earth, how can this be if it is rotating?
2
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4answers
205 views
Why a day is divided by 12/24 hours? Why the number 12?
Why a day is divided by 12/24 hours? Why the number 12? Why not using 10 or 6 or 14, 16? Who invented this? Any physical reasons behind this?
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0answers
25 views
Planets motion around the sun [duplicate]
Why planets of solar system move almost in the same plane?
0
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1answer
122 views
Where do planets get energy to revolve around sun?
We know that every planet in our solar system revolve's around the sun in a particular orbit. But were to they get the energy to revolve around the sun. And why do they not drop into the sun there is ...
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3answers
1k views
Can the solar system really fit in a thimble?
Almost every time somebody talks about atoms, at some point they mention something like this:
If we remove the spaces between the atoms and atomic components, we can fit the solar system in a ...
2
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2answers
333 views
Why does Venus transit so slowly?
I have calculated that because Venus is $d = 12,103.6~\mathrm{km}$ in diameter and moves at $v = 35.02~\mathrm{km}/\mathrm{s}$, it would take
$$ t=\frac{d}{v} = ...
16
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4answers
588 views
Staying in orbit - but doesn't any perturbation start a positive feedback?
I am not a physicist; I am a software engineer. While trying to fall asleep recently, I started thinking about the following.
There are many explanations online of how any object stays in orbit. The ...
4
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2answers
197 views
How to calculate linar velocity of planet orbit?
I try to simulate a solar system with planets (with random mass) placed randomly around a sun with a mass $X \times \text{solar mass}$.
The simulation is going well when I use real data ...
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2answers
138 views
Planet's Moon attrated by sun [closed]
I'm currently writing a code to generate solar system and $N$ number of planets / moons.
I use real data to test (earth / sun / moon data).
I succeeded in placing the earth and make it orbit around ...
11
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1answer
137 views
Relationship between Mars and Earth rotation
Is it by pure random chance that Mars and the Earth have nearly the same day duration (Mars day is barely 40 minutes longer, which is just 3% difference), or there is some causal relationship between ...
2
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1answer
177 views
Where to find the current positions and velocities of the planets?
I've written a program which simulates the motions of planets and other bodies. I'd like to run it on our own solar system, but to do so I need to know the current positions (preferably in ...
4
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1answer
66 views
Atmospheric hydrogen in Titan
In 2005, some astrobiologists proposed that methanogenic life on the surface of Titan would consume both hydrogen and acetylene from the atmosphere, causing a downward gradient in the concentrations ...
2
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2answers
82 views
Can one predict mass distribution in a solar system given the mass of the star?
I'm trying to write a program to procedurally generate solar systems at a reasonably high level (I'm not interested in doing an n-body dust particle formation simulation).
Is there some sort of ...
2
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0answers
62 views
Elimination of the node
Recently I have been reading a lot of astronomy papers on reductions in models of the solar system. A reoccurring concept is the elimination of the node. However, they never explain what the node is ...
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1answer
169 views
Result of increasing the radius of earth?
How can increasing the radius of earth may cause an impact on the solar system ? Like, would earth may start making a bigger orbit (due to increase in size and wait) or vice versa ? or else ?
PS: The ...
5
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1answer
103 views
What is the likelihood of a long-period comet impact?
I always see lots of information about asteroid impacts, but very little is said about comet impacts. As I see, a long period comet impact is much more dangerous because a) we wouldn't have time to ...
2
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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 ...
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2answers
120 views
Most suitable metric for the Solar system?
If I wanted to solve the Einstein equations for the solar system, which choice of $g_{\mu\nu}$ and $T_{\mu\nu}$ is more suitable?
I thought about using a Schwarzschild metric near each planet, but ...
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1answer
84 views
How is retrograde motion explained in Tycho's model?
Tycho proposed a model of the solar system where all planets but Earth move around the sun while the sun and the moon move around the earth.
I wonder how this model could explain the retrograde ...
4
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2answers
151 views
The “official” mass of the sun as unit?
I'm searching for the "official" mass of the sun as a unit in astrophysics.
The mass of the sun can be calculated by:
$M_{\odot}=\frac{4\pi^2\times(1 \ \text{ua})^3}{G\times(1\ \text{year})^2}$
So ...
4
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1answer
92 views
Direction of planetary tilt
I am building a 3d solar system simulation using WebGL and have come across the problem of establishing the direction of tilt of the various planets. No I know the tilt of the planets in degrees what ...
5
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2answers
229 views
Is dark matter really present around the sun?
Recently I read an article that there is dark matter around the sun but if it is so, than why can we see it clearly.
If it is called matter than it shall show some hindrance in radiation we receive ...
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2answers
76 views
What allows new born suns to travel away from each other?
What allows massive new born suns to move away from each other, as they have been observed. I would think that their massive gravity would prevent this and cause them to slam into each other.
2
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1answer
104 views
What is the diameter of the sun as a function of wavelength/frequency (around 10GHz)?
I have this vague recollection of being told that the diameter of the apparent surface of the sun is a function of what band you observe it in. I'm looking for a model of this that works for bands in ...
5
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2answers
199 views
Why is there this asymmetry between the two foci of an orbital ellipse?
Why does the Earth revolve with the Sun at one of its foci? Does the other focus do nothing? Why is there this asymmetry in our solar system?
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1answer
87 views
Is there anything special about the Sun's photosphere in terms of density?
The Earth has a definite boundary between rocky/ watery surface and gaseous atmosphere. The same cannot be said of the sun. Even though the photosphere gives an apparent "edge" to the sun via the ...
6
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1answer
71 views
Does a celestial system exhibit a collective magnetic field?
Sol exhibits a magnetic field, most of the planets in orbit around Sol exhibit a magnetic field - strong and weak both.
Does the solar system as a whole exhibit a magnetic field?
Does the paradigm ...
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2answers
44 views
Locating a Comet, how is it done?
How are the comet-hunters able to precisely locate/know about the required comets ? How can they distinguish between comets from such a far distance ? How are they able to estimate the exact time ...
2
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2answers
272 views
Parabolic or Hyperbolic?
How can astronomers find the difference between a parabolic and a hyperbolic comet ? What are the criteria that helps them distinguish these ? Can a parabolic comet switch over to become a hyperbolic ...
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3answers
601 views
Can human push earth away from the sun?
It's said the earth is approaching the sun. Can we push it away little by little?
Although we can emit rocket towards the sun, but it's too expensive to make a rocket:
So I think maybe we can ...
2
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1answer
105 views
Moons of the planets
What is the phenomena behind gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn having a large number of moons as compared to other planets. Were the present state moons a part of their parent planet long time ago ?
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0answers
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Expansion of Universe [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Why space expansion affects matter?
If the Expansion is prevalent, i.e. it is observable and true then shouldn't that result in the expansion of the Milky Way galaxy, ...
7
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2answers
350 views
How did Halley calculate the distance to the Sun by measuring the transit of Venus?
What numbers did Halley, Cook, et al. have? What was the strategy by which they calculated the AU?
2
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1answer
88 views
When would the proposed black hole at the centre of Milky Way gulp in our solar system?
I've heard and read that our solar system lies near to the peripheral region of the Galaxy. Then accordingly we would have a greater probability of sustaining to eventual gulping down by the ...
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2answers
81 views
On constancy of cometary orbits
how are the comets able to keep to a nearly fixed orbital period, though they lose a certain amount of mass during their perihelion?
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1answer
174 views
Geocentric Model in General Relativity
In classical mechanics, if I want to view the Earth as the fixed center of the solar system, I must accelerate my reference frame to keep it centered on the Earth. That accelerated reference frame ...
4
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1answer
193 views
What is the position and orientation of the Earth as a function of time
I would like to know the position and orientation of the Earth, relative to the sun, as a function of time.
I.e. select any coordinate system with the Sun at the origin so that the earth lies in the ...
1
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1answer
102 views
Earth's beginnings and early years, Re radioactive decay or not
It is said that the Earth and solar system are 4.6 billion years old.
Presumably this date is achieved from radioactive decay.
If this is the case, since most of the radioactive elements would have, ...
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3answers
528 views
How do the Planets and Sun get their initial rotation?
How do the Planets and Sun get their initial rotation?
Why do Venus and Mercury rotate so slowly compared to other planets and why does Venus rotate in a different direction to Mercury, Earth and ...
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1answer
72 views
How can you calculate the exact position of the Earth taking into account the gravitational attraction of Mars and the Sun?
I think there must be a formula to calculate the exact position of the Earth taking into account the gravitational attraction of Mars and the Sun. Is it possible with vectors?
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0answers
171 views
Simple model of the solar system. Parameters? Accuracy?
I was thinking of making a simple 2D model of the solar system, with planets moving along ellipses like
$$x(t) = k_x \sin(t + k_t) (\sin(k_\phi) + \cos(k_\phi))$$
$$y(t) = k_y \cos(t + k_t) ...
8
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1answer
294 views
Where will New Horizons go after sailing past Pluto?
The New Horizons Spacecraft is scheduled to whiz by Pluto around 2015, and my understanding is that it is going to do exactly that — whiz by it.
Where will it go after that? Or what else can it do ...
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2answers
16 views
Predicting solar storms?
Quote from BBC "A strong solar storm is expected to hit Earth shortly, and experts warn it could disrupt power grids, satellite navigation and plane routes."
How is it that we are aware of a massive ...
4
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1answer
479 views
What would happen to Earth if Saturn were to exit the Solar System?
Suppose Saturn simply vanished. How would that affect the rest of the Solar System, specifically Earth?
