Tagged Questions

2
votes
2answers
85 views

Is there a map of the particles in outer space?

Since outer space is not quite a vacuum, and the distribution of various heavenly bodies is locally inhomogeneous, it seems reasonable to expect that the density and variety of particles ...
0
votes
0answers
28 views

How do stars look like from space? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Optical explanation of images of stars? What are these rays that appear in photograph of sun? I thought stars should look round shaped (similar to a sphere, or oblate ...
3
votes
2answers
92 views

What is an extreme deep field image (XDF) and how is it captured?

NASA recently took this Extreme Deep Field image (XDF) that is the area of only small fraction of the dia of moon and contains 5,500 galaxies. Nasa says this was capture by extreme long exposures so ...
3
votes
1answer
313 views

Would Titan moon blow up if you light a match?

Given that the atmosphere of Titan is mostly methane, and from a comment on this TED talk... Would it blow up from a lighted match-stick? Seems like it's at least plausible. But, wouldn't the lack of ...
6
votes
1answer
601 views

What happened to Apollo's Saturn-third-stage rockets?

I read recently the original Apollo 11 press release and it mentions that the Saturn V's third stage (used for Trans-Lunar Injection) was deployed into a solar orbit of some kind: I know that on ...
4
votes
5answers
7k views

Gravity on the International Space Station

We created a table in my physics class which contained the strength of gravity on different planet and objects in space. At altitude 0(earth), the gravitational strength is 100%. On the moon at ...
0
votes
2answers
83 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?
2
votes
1answer
87 views

Is the environment around an asteroid harsher than in interplanetary space?

In the wikipedia article about NEAR Shoemaker it is mentioned that the craft stopped operating under these conditions: At 7 p.m. EST on February 28, 2001 the last data signals were received from ...
2
votes
2answers
49 views

Interstellar bodies

As a solar system evolves the planets interact, and in trying to achieve a harmonious state some bodies are ejected. Space is big, but I have heard that some meteorites have been found with anomalous ...
9
votes
1answer
200 views

How vacuous is intergalactic space?

You often hear intergalactic space is an example for a very good vacuum. But how vacuos is space between galaxy clusters and inside a huge void structure? Are there papers quoting a ...
16
votes
5answers
5k views

How long does it take to travel 36 light years with tolerable acceleration and deceleration?

The recent discovery of HD85512b only 36 light years from Earth has promising attributes to harbor life. Assuming we want to travel there, we cannot instantaneously jump to light speed, (StarTrek ...
7
votes
2answers
503 views

What does the sky look like to human eyes from orbit?

There are numerous pictures, obviously, of the blackness of space from the shuttle, the space station, and even the moon. But they all suffer from being from the perspective of a camera, which is not ...
2
votes
3answers
278 views

If the Big Bang theory suggests that the Universe is “expanding” then what is it expanding INTO? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: origins of the universe questions. i am a software engineer and not an astrophysicist but i want to know if anyone is working on sorting out what exists outside the ...
0
votes
3answers
107 views

Is there a chance for Earth to have an additional satellite someday?

I am just an space enthusiast and not a physics professional so pardon me if this is not the right place to ask. As title says, is there a chance for our Earth to have additional satellite(s) like our ...
3
votes
5answers
1k views

How do we know that earth moves around sun and that too in elliptical orbit

I know the basics of solar system like how earth moves around sun, and that we have so many planets, elliptical orbit of earth, and how far is sun from earth etc etc. I want to take a step back and ...
-2
votes
1answer
418 views

History of Man Acquired knowledge of solar system [closed]

I know the basics of solar system like how earth moves around sun, and that we have so many planets, elliptical orbit of earth, and how far is sun from earth etc etc. I want to take a step back and ...
1
vote
0answers
281 views

What is the name of the physical space enveloping all universes? [closed]

Please excuse my question, as i don't come from a physics background, but i was really wondering. Assuming we are in one of numerous universes which all have physical dimensions: What is the name of ...