The near-vacuum extending between the planets and stars, containing small amounts of gas and dust. Also called outer space to refer to the physical universe beyond the Earth's atmosphere.
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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 ...
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1answer
250 views
Steady State Temperature of an Object Orbiting the Earth
This may be irrelevant or stupid to ask but I couldn't come up with a good answer. At least, we could not agree on with my friend the other day.
I would like an estimate of the temperature of a human ...
2
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1answer
263 views
Heat reflection on distant planets
I was watching a documentary last night on the first planet discovered outside our solar system.
The first one apparently is a giant gas planet that orbits very close to its sun over a very fast ...
2
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1answer
261 views
Distinguishing mechanical systems from general dynamical systems
[Remark: I admit that my first attempt on What makes a space a real space? was rather ill-posed and led to some confusion. Sorry for that, but please give me a second try. Part of the confusion arose ...
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1answer
339 views
Does the metal foam “whiffleball” orbital reentry idea make any sense?
Planetary Resources is a company speaking publicly about mining near Earth asteroids for resources. I'm interested the physicality of a claim they make in a video here:
...
2
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1answer
227 views
What are the odds of 2012 DA14 hitting a satellite or the moon?
Asteroid 2012 DA14 will pass by close to Earth. Very close. So close, in fact, that it's inside the orbit of the moon and even inside the orbit of geostationary satellites, as shown by this ...
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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 ...
2
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1answer
99 views
Can structural trusses in centrifuges be helpful at all?
Imagine a rotating space station for the purpose of creating artificial gravity. Generally, such a space station is portrayed as a ring or a cylinder. Images of these space stations often have lines ...
2
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1answer
90 views
Macroscopic quantum gravity phenomena
A theory of quantum gravity is said to be needed when quantum and gravitational effects are strong at the same time i.e. at black hole singularities and at the big bang. This also makes it difficult ...
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1answer
244 views
Calculating spacecraft water leak flow rate
A large container of heated water is floating in space. How can I calculate leak rate if a small puncture is opened?
I'm assuming the water is kept at 298K and in the liquid state inside the chamber.
...
2
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0answers
49 views
Dirichlet's work on gravity in non-Euclidean space?
In the book The Norton History of Astronomy and Cosmology by the late John North I have found the following statement (page 514):
"The German mathematician Lejeune Dirichlet studied the law of ...
2
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0answers
74 views
Jupiter: Zonal Jets in opposite directions
I recently read that the Great Red Spot arises from the shear instability of zonal flow from zonal jets travelling in opposite directions.
Is there any reason why such zonal jets travel in opposite ...
2
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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 ...
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5answers
581 views
Is there perfect vacuum 10000 billion lightyears away?
Is there perfect vacuum about some 10,000 billion light years away?
With perfect vacuum, I mean that there are no particles, not even virtual photons!
I had this idea by assuming that all particle ...
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5answers
399 views
what are dimensions?
First, discrete examples.
In a computer screen I can specify any "2D" point with just one single number
(pixel order starting count from first at upper left, and going on, left2right and up2down ...
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2answers
113 views
Will a rotating object traveling along a linear path continue to rotate forever in space?
Suppose engineers built a cylinder-shaped space ship which rotates to create artificial gravity:
...
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3answers
302 views
How would steel degrade in space
If there is a steel plate floating in space, for ever, within the solar system, how is it going to degrade? Of course without oxygen it is not going to oxidize (rust), but how are cosmic rays, UV ...
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2answers
148 views
Get into orbit from the Redbull jump position to a satellite position by using a cord/rope?
Its difficult to put this into the title.
I was watching the Redbull Jump and noticed that the height of this is at 39 kilometres (24 mi) the atmosphere pressure is at I believe about 0.4% of that at ...
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3answers
96 views
New physics at high energies, cosmic rays, particle-detectors in space
New physics is expected at high energies and cosmic rays have high energies, so have there been or are there any plans to put particle detectors in space to study cosmic rays for new physics ?
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3answers
569 views
Can the technology behind Particle accelerators can be used for space propulsion?
As I understand, the kinetic energy of the proton beam in a hadron collider is quite large. Can you build a space propulsion system that is based on accelerating a proton bean to relativistic speeds ...
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2answers
445 views
what about there is no time, only space [closed]
what about a theory where no time exists, only discrete space, steady states and occasion chains. what would speak against this?
;-)
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2answers
135 views
Can Outer Space be used for Waste Disposal?
If harmful toxic, nuclear and other wastes are dangerous if improperly disposed on Earth, can't they be launched into space? If a large, tightly bound mass of waste were to be propelled into outer ...
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3answers
219 views
Can one heat up a vacuum?
I've got a question about heating a vacuum. If there were, say, a container in space, at 2.7 degrees kelvin (the typical temperature of space, if I'm not mistaken) and as empty as space (as close to ...
1
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1answer
82 views
Nothing vs. empty space
This question quotes Hawking saying:
[...] you enter a world where conjuring something out of nothing is possible (at least, for a short while). That's because at this scale particles, such as ...
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1answer
27 views
What type of Radiation hits Europa
I was recently reading the Wikipedia Page for Europa as I am interested in terra-formation. In one of the sentences, it says that:
The radiation level at the surface of Europa is equivalent to a ...
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1answer
127 views
Is time the rate at which one moves through space
I'll start out with the cliche attempt in a protective shield of my dignity. I am a young highschool kid just eager to learn and understand. If I'm way off or this is already a known idea, or maybe ...
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2answers
341 views
Would a thinner atmosphere (such as high altitude) yield better solar panel energy generation?
I am curious. If you were to put a solar panel up in high altitude or on the surface of the moon, both of which have much less atmosphere to reflect/refract light, would that solar panel produce more ...
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1answer
447 views
Would a high-explosive in a vacuum be less harmful?
Putting aside shrapnel effects, I believe that high-explosives cause damage by producing a shockwave. How do shockwaves work in space? I've managed to convince myself that a high-explosive shockwave ...
1
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1answer
183 views
Is rocket propellant meaningfully a form of “space junk”
I imagine that most people are familiar with the concept of space junk (or space debris), which is a hazard to space exploration that grows with every item that humans leave in space. Wikipedia lists ...
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2answers
139 views
Weightlessness and falling sideways
In Season 2, ep 4 of Star talk Radio, host Neil Tyson is talking about the international space station. He mentions that the space station is in a low earth orbit and is falling along the curvature of ...
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4answers
2k views
Visualizing Electromagnetic Waves in 3D Space
I did one module of physics for my GCSE one year ago which taught me about transverse EM waves & the EM spectrum, but since then, I do not understand how a wave would move in 3D space. Can someone ...
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2answers
88 views
Could a spacecraft dock with the voyager 1?
Is the Voyager 1 (or any similar exploration spacecraft) equipped with the ability for space to dock with it (attach to it)?
Hypothetically, if a voyager or similar spacecraft were in Earth's orbit, ...
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1answer
109 views
How can I name this 3D rotation
First I would like to be clear: this is a noob question, I need a simple answer if such an answer exists.
In a three-dimentional space, how can I name this rotation?
See an animation
Let's assume X ...
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1answer
130 views
What equations/constants were used to calculate the Kármán Line for Earth?
I am interested in how the original value of ~100 km was calculated for the Kármán line of earth. What equations and constants would need to be used to reproduce this value?
Note: By constants, ...
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3answers
446 views
Long-Life High Altitude Balloon
Normally high-altitude balloon experiments end with the balloon popping and the payload falling back down to be reclaimed.
But if a second balloon was attached to the payload, one which was only ...
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1answer
46 views
Non-isolated universe and arrow of space
Could you please help me to understand two statements in physics:
1) Universe by definition is an isolated system.
But universe expands, space pours into universe, space (vacuum) has zero-point ...
1
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0answers
38 views
Solar sail area going to Proxima Centari [closed]
I have a physics question that I need some help with:
"Proxima Centauri is a star in the Alpha Centauri solar system, it’s the
nearest star to our sun (4.24light−years) ...
1
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0answers
89 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 ...
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1answer
88 views
More efficient far-future means of keeping the earth alive? [closed]
In about 7 Billion years our planed will be consumed by the ever-growing sun, life would have become extinct long before that. That means that in several hundred thousand years we have a deadline to ...
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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 ...
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6answers
3k views
Does vacuum (empty space) exist? [closed]
Added: 5 times down vote for now! Down voter is this religion or physics, please try to explain your decision.
I'm confused about this.
In physics we know for a vacuum, but I think that there is a ...
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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?
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2answers
190 views
Why should space be empty? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How vacuous is intergalactic space?
The emptiness of space is explained in many articles... But, space does contain some matter due to these possible reasons:
During ...
0
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3answers
386 views
Will a stone thrown in space move forever?
If I throw a stone on space, in a place where gravity is equal zero, will the stone move forward forever, because no air, so no friction?
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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 ...
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2answers
44 views
One Particle in a Vacuum
I recently watch a lecture by Neil Tyson where he said the closest thing we have to a vacuum is interstellar space. I believe he said there will be one atom per 1 cubic meter or something close to ...
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1answer
55 views
How much energy is needed to curve the space so the Sun will come 1 meter closer to our planet? [closed]
How much energy/work will it take if our planet is:
5.9736×1024 kg
or
3.0×10−6 Suns
to move Sun and Earth 1 meter closer ...
0
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1answer
67 views
Do all forces act in the same way where gravity is close to zero?
Suppose that I put in the outer space (where gravity from other bodies is negligible) a large, perfectly round sphere totally filled with water. At the bottom (even though "bottom" doesn't make much ...
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2answers
122 views
Temperature of a black-body in LEO on the dark side of the Earth
Questions about the temperature of something in space are often very hard to pin down (example), since there is radiative transfer to/from many different regions in the field of view at dramatically ...
0
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1answer
315 views
Atmospheric Escape of Gas Molecules
Most of the Bodies and Objects in space are likely to have an atmosphere. Since the space is empty, the gases in atmosphere should have either dissolved or emptied into space. But, Why doesn't this ...
