Questions tagged [solar-system]
Refers to questions concerning the solar system containing Earth. For other solar systems, use the 'planetary-system' tag.
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How likely is it that the Voyager spacecrafts haven't yet been damaged by micrometeoroids?
Both Voyagers have been traveling at over $60,000$ km/h for well over four decades and still seem to function properly, taking into account the slowly dropping power and warmth available from their ...
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How do we define the aphelion of Earth?
After seeing this question, I was curious on how we define the aphelion of Earth. On a quick search it said that the aphelion is the point when Earth is the furthest way from the sun. However, all the ...
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What's the orientation of earth in space if the entire solar system is moving in one direction [closed]
I know that there is nothing north, south, east or west in space there is no reference by which you can tell if apparent north is up, down, left or right.
But as I understand that all planets in the ...
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How can you warm up Mars?
Mars experience extreme temperatures. Highest temperature being 21 degree celsius.
So if we are to terraform mars one day then we first need to warm it up. So any ideas on how to warm up mars?
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What processes create an object with an interstellar velocity?
An object like Oumuamua originates in a solar system. This object has roughly the inertia of everything else there. I can imagine stuff on the edge of the accretion zone for a star that...WANDER off......
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By when can we pass by Voyager 1?
I am just curious to know if there is any estimation, no matter how rough it could be, about when another human artifact can go farther than Voyager 1 with respect to the Earth; years, decades, any ...
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Any star-system list indexed by proximity?
Does anyone know where I can find a list indexed by Earth-proximity with all the star-systems or exo-planets with appropriate conditions for human direct exploration?
It is not necessary to have ...
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Precision in the space navigation [duplicate]
I am curious about the precision NASA and other agencies have in the space navigation.
Are they always accurate to the meter in position they aim for; in mission like the recent rover landing on the ...
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How many solar system bodies have "knees" in their atmospheres?
Discussion lead to citing Why does Earth's atmospheric density have a big "knee" around 100 km? Is there a good analytical approximation? who's answer is "monatomic oxygen". ...
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Is there an established name for the regions "above" or "below" the ecliptic plane in our Solar System?
In our Solar system, all of the planets orbit the Sun along a plane known as the ecliptic.
If we extend the ecliptic plane into a sphere of the same radius centred around our Sun, is there any ...
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Can a moon orbit its planet faster than its planet rotates?
Can a moon orbit its planet faster than its planet rotates?
Can a moon orbit its planet more than once per the planet's day? It seems possible but I'm not sure.
Are there any known examples of this ...
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What is "Planetary Defense", and what are the threats one can potentially defend against?
The planetary-defense tag has the current (my) awkwardly-written description.
related to the defense of a planet from a major destructive event such as an impact, or searches for or studies of ...
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Is pulsar timing a viable positioning system for solar system missions
I was reading one of the questions about a version of GPS around Mars, and I started wondering about a Solar system wide positioning system -- large satellites with accurate clocks and powerful ...
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Is it true that we see the center of the milky way only half of the year? [closed]
Edit
I copied the question to the Astronomy site (https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/36947/is-it-true-that-we-see-the-center-of-the-milky-way-for-only-half-of-the-year), as suggested in one ...
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How does a planet's gravity push away smaller bodies that would otherwise intersect its orbit?
I was reading an article about dwarf planets online where I stumbled upon the following definition of a planet:
The International Astronomical Union defines a planet as being in orbit around the ...
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Locations of the terminator on Mars' surface on 1976-07-24T10:35:26Z?
How can I find points of latitude and longitude on Mars that fall on the terminator (day/night line) on a specific date, for example 1976-07-24T10:35:26Z as ...
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Are planet orbits available to download in some vectorial format file?
I would like to work with solar system planet orbits in a Geographic Information Software like QGIS, so:
Are available to download the orbits of solar system planets in some vector format?
EDIT:
...
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moon's true anomaly at date of new moon
I've seen on this site: https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/moonorbit.html
a table that gives the true anomaly of the moon at the time of new moon.
The difference between the true anomaly at one new ...
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Is the Heliosphere as elliptical as this graphic suggests?
I noticed the following graphic being used in an article discussing the Voyager probes. It also appears on Wikipedia's Heliosphere page:
The same page states that:
On a broader scale, the motion ...
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Which solar system objects could a space elevator be built on with modern tech?
Which solar system objects have the right combination of low gravity and fast spinning rate, that an object tall enough to be a space elevator could be built on with modern construction tech?
By "...
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What target is the most difficult to reach in the solar system?
"Most difficult", as in the minimum $\Delta v$ required, the objective being capture into an orbit around the object.
Looking through some Delta-v maps, I would suspect the answer to be some inner ...
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What is the heaviest chemical element that has been recovered from beyond cis-lunar space? [closed]
Material has come to Earth from deep space (beyond cis-linar) and been subjected to scientific analysis both in the form of meteorites, and via robotic sample collection spacecraft and robotic ...
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Where will we get nitrogen in space?
It's expensive to launch things out of a gravity well. So in the future, as we seek to manufacture things in space, it's worth exploring the possibility of harvesting them there as well.
In the ...
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Why does my Saturnian System simulation "rotate" over time?
I am attempting to create a "top-down view" of the Saturnian System, using the Keplerian Elements + Rates provided here:
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?sat_elem#saturn
To verify the validity of my ...
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What is the most fuel efficient way out of the Solar System?
I understand with current technology we can't just fly a straight line out of the solar system but which way out would need the least fuel?
Currently to navigate the solar system it is a dance ...
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Highest velocity impact between a spacecraft and a solar system body? What about for a dedicated impactor (spacecraft component)?
In this answer I mention the proposed impact of DART:
Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Mission
Double Asteroid Redirection Test
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Element of the ...
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Why are probes that tend to explore outer system always launched to go outwards instead of straight upwards or downwards?
Let's take a look at the trajectory of variety probe missions.
New Horizons and Ultima Thule will be 4.1 billion miles away when it visits the Kuiper Belt object. This chart shows the path of New ...
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Space Travel Advanced Recon [closed]
Could a network of probes be sent ahead of a mother ship to form a grid to lay a path for travel inside the solar system?
After what certain speed anything larger then a stationary pebble could be ...
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What words are used to mean in relation to or origin of a planet?
Pretty simple question I think, but I am having trouble confirming a legitimate answer.
If things related to Mars are Martian, things related to Jupiter are Jovian, and things related to the Moon ...
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Is Voyager 2 capable of proving the existence of Oort cloud?
Yesterday on Dec 10 2018, NASA announced that Voyager 2 probe has exited the heliosphere - the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by the Sun and entered the interstellar-medium;...
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Why do some scientists want a moon base for further space travel? What are the advantages of a moon base if compared with an earth base?
The distance between moon and earth is just 384,400 km. So, if we can travel (from moon) to another planet, we also can travel (from earth) to the same planet. But I've read that some scientists want ...
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Which planet gets the most money? Which gets the least?
I'm curious if anyone has ever tallied the expenditures of all of the world's space programs, and then tried to divide it by which planet was targeted. It's possible this has already been done.
If ...
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How was the radius of Venus measured so accurately (± 3 km) via radar in the mid 1960's, before Venera 4 and Mariner 5?
In several answers to the question When did planetary scientists realize Venus' surface pressure was almost 100x that on Earth? How did they find out? the known radius of Venus is mentioned.
It was ...
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What is the farthest artificial satellite in orbit in our solar system?
When did we send the farthest satellite and what is its role and name ?
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Plotting error values between simulated and JPL data
I'm attempting to compare values between my simulated data for the solar system and the official JPL data, to find errors for the position, velocity, inclination and azimuth.
The simulated data was ...
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How to get the coordinates from NASA JPL Ephemerides DE430 ( ECRS) to ECI?
I'm trying to make a software that determines the orbit of a satellite which is affected by the Sun and Moon. The coordinates [x y z] that I have for the satellite are in Eci. For the position of the ...
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Variation in Earth's aphelion and perihelion
I see from Astropixels.com that Earth's aphelion and perihelion each vary by a little over 29,000 km, while the earth-moon barycenter wobble is about 4,000 km. Is Astropixels.com correct? Are Jupiter ...
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Are any of the planets in our solar system (other than Earth) inhabitable?
I've watched a TV series on a group of people that build a community on our neighboring planet, Mars, and after watching it, I started to wonder:
Could something like this really happen in the near ...
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Any algorithmic models of our solar system to predict positions relative to earth?
I'm looking for a map/model of the movements of our solar system and associated moons.
What are the 'best' algorythmic models to represent our solar system. Looking to write a game/edutainment app ...
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Is there a planet walk with the positions of Voyager 1 and 2?
There are a lot of walks like the Sagan Planet Walk (see the list on Wikipedia).
But are there any of these walks that include the position of the Voyager space probes?
Some days ago I was ...
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Does Sunlight have a range? [closed]
If you switch on a lightbulb in a room its light has a visible range. So how about Sunlight? Does it light more on Mercury and less on Pluto? And what about planets that are not in the Solar System?
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How many satellites would be required for Solar System GPS?
GPS is a Global Positioning System. it uses satellites in orbit to identify precise location on a globe. Several posts here talk about it being used in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with success. About 30 ...
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What does "side view" of solar system look like?
I'm trying to grasp what a 2D "side-view" of the solar system looks like. There are many examples of a "top-down" view of the solar system. But the side-view confuses me somewhat.
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What science could be performed by an extra-solar probe?
An earlier question asked whether there were any planned missions outside the solar system, which made me think of this question. What would the scientific benefits be in sending a probe outside the ...
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Are there any planned missions for spacecraft leaving the solar system? [duplicate]
We have some spacecraft that have extended missions outside of the solar system (ie voyager), but are there any plans for new spacecraft that will leave our solar system either by a primary or ...
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Did Rosetta improve on models of non-gravitational effects on comet 67P's orbit?
Question: Since the presence of the Rosetta spacecraft near comet 67P allowed for a detailed mass measurement, extremely precise position and velocity determinations, and physcal measurement and ...
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Can a launch of a rocket or ship from Earth go so badly that it damages the Solar System?
Is it possible for a launch of a space object originating from Earth to go so badly that it would cause permanent damage to the Solar System or even destroy it?
Example: a spaceship going off ...
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Niku - potential object beyond Neptune spinning counterclock-wise
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2100700-mystery-object-in-weird-orbit-beyond-neptune-cannot-be-explained/
What could be potential reasons for
a) the object only now being discovered (200km in ...
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Could, in another star system, gas giants be closer to the star then earth-like planets?
Looking at Sol, we can see that earth-like planets are close to the sun, while Gas Giants are at medium distance with Ice Giants being far out.
Im wondering if this make-up is actually the norm or if ...
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What are the implications if Juno finds that Jupiter has a solid core?
Juno has arrived at Jupiter, and will begin taking measurements to determine if the gas giant has a solid core. But what I cannot seem to find is the implications such a discovery would have. This ...
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