Astronomy Stack Exchange
Astronomy Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [solar-system]

Questions regarding the Sun and objects orbiting it.

Questions regarding the Sun and objects orbiting it. The 9 major bodies of the Solar System are (sorted by distance from the sun) the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. There are also hundreds of smaller minor planets, such as Ceres and Pluto, as well as millions of asteroids and comets in the Asteroid and Kuiper Belts and the Oort Cloud.

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How do we know that the planets of our solar system began their formation at more or less the same time?

A long time ago, when I had to help my children with their homeworks, I often had the vexing question « how do we know ? ». It is true that reading a middle-school science textbook is like reading another Bible. Hardly do we have an explanation:…
Ng Ph
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What is the likelihood of the existence of unknown elements in the Solar System?

What's the chance that there might be undiscovered chemical elements in the Solar System - either on planets or around the Sun or on asteroids of the Oort-cloud?
Zoltán Schmidt
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Multiply Earth's orbital speed with square root of 2

Earth's escape velocity is 11.18 km/s. If I multiply Earth's orbital speed with the square root of 2, 29.7827 km/s x 1.41 = 42.11 km/s How is this speed called? I found this equation in an old German meteor book, but I don't understand.
Robert
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Unreasonable ratios in astronomy as ways of remembering

In mathematics there are approximations to pi such as: $\pi\approx\dfrac{355}{113}$ that have extraordinary accuracy and are useful ways of remembering or being able to calculate a value close to pi that may be used in calculations. I noticed the…
David
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Standard practices and models for generating the ephemerides of the solar system

I am familiar with the theory on generating the positions of the members of the solar system, but have been unable to find out the standard practices and methods of professional astronomers in acquiring this information. The basic methods of…
Tyler Durden
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In geocentric models, did the Earth rotate?

In geocentric models, did the Earth rotate around its axis? I assume that if the Earth rotated around its axis, then the Sun would not have to orbit around the Earth at a very fast rate, whereas if the Earth didn't rotate, then the Sun would have to…
Andrew Grimm
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Is it possible to disprove geocentrism without telescopes?

The development of telescopes enabled the discovery of moons orbiting around Jupiter, and the existence of a full set of phases of Venus, as opposed to a limited set which would be predicted by geocentrism. But is it possible to disprove, or at…
Andrew Grimm
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What is the definition of the "solar mixing ratio"?

What is the definition of the "solar mixing ratio"? Specifically, I'd like to know why the ratio of H2 and He is 0.84 and 0.16 at the "solar mixing ratio" as shown in Table I in The Galileo Mission.
Molares
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Can we detect the wobble of neighbouring stars around their barycenters?

The wobble of a star around its barycenter is interesting (the wobble caused by the pull of the rest of the solar-system on the sun). This question explains why we don't see this wobble from within our own solar-system (because we are mostly…
Joel Richard Koett
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How can I calculate solar intensity at Saturn

I'm trying to work out how big solar panels have to be for a Saturn probe, but can't find any data for solar energy at Saturn.
Phoneix_007
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What is the Age Difference Between Earth & Jupiter?

What is the age difference between Jupiter & Earth? Which planet was formed first, or were they formed at the same time?
RANSARA009
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Textbook to explain measurements and calculations for heliocentric solar system

I'm trying to identify a textbook I had briefly and then lost. I had a PDF file of an astronomy textbook, but the hard drive crashed irreparably before I could thoroughly read the textbook, or even record the author and title. The textbook covered…
Long
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Is the nose of the solar system and the solar apex the same thing?

Results from the IBEX satellite indicate the nose of the solar system is pointing to the constellation Scorpius. Various sources say the solar apex is pointing to the constellation Hercules. Are the two different, or is simply the information about…
Bob516
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Do the planets, asteroid belt, kuiper belt, and scattered disc lie on the same plane?

If not, do any of the four groups in the title lie on the same plane as other members of the group? E.g. does the asteroid belt lie on the same plane as the planets do?
Kelmikra
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Periodic motions that affect earth axis tilt

It is said that the earth axis changes its tilt with a period of 41 000 years. So used the image https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Obliquity_berger_0_to_1000000.png removed the grid so it became like this Then I used the following…
user877329
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