r/askastronomy • • Feb 06 '24

What's the most interesting astronomy fact that you'd like to share with someone?

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281 Upvotes

r/askastronomy • • 10h ago

Casseiopeia region and Andromeda Galaxy from a plane (I think)

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17 Upvotes

The Milky Way is faintly there I think. I couldn't see it naked eye due to the wing lights


r/askastronomy • • 1h ago

What is that in the moon?

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• Upvotes

r/askastronomy • • 5h ago

Flickering “star” or “satelite” finally got decent video.

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2 Upvotes

I have two more videos that may help. This was taken around 7:45pm yesterday evening. I have second video I’ll be posting in the comments section. The position is West. I am in the Colbert, Ga area of the US. I started noticing this “star” 2 years ago. Anyone know what it is?


r/askastronomy • • 18h ago

If we detect an object at the Kuiper belt near Neptune traveling 38,000mph, and it's on course to pass close to Earth, how long would it take from detection to passing close?

16 Upvotes

r/askastronomy • • 10h ago

I read that we could fit all the planets in the solar system in the distance between the Earth and the Moon. What is the breakdown of what would happen if a Jupiter sized planet suddenly appeared in between us and the Moon? How fast would everything fall apart?

0 Upvotes

r/askastronomy • • 10h ago

[Amateur] Construí una herramienta para rastrear objetos no catalogados del Sistema Solar con datos de LSST/ZTF/FINK — ¿alguien quiere ayudarme a validar los tracks?

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1 Upvotes

r/askastronomy • • 8h ago

How do you catch the Starlight from a Blue Supergiant?

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0 Upvotes

r/askastronomy • • 1d ago

Is this a meteor or a comet?

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617 Upvotes

Sorry for such poor quality, I was heading out this morning and saw this and was shocked. I tried to read about comets and didn’t find anything. Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask, just I’ve recently got into astronomy and so everything to me is got to be something wild.


r/askastronomy • • 14h ago

Vainu Bappu Telescope Observations

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1 Upvotes

Dear Redditors,

I’m putting together a short PowerPoint presentation on India’s optical telescopes, and I’m looking for images of celestial objects observed by the Vainu Bappu Telescope (VBT) in visible light.

If possible, I’d be grateful if anyone could share around five images captured using the VBT, along with links to the original observations, publications, or official sources.

The images will be used solely for an educational presentation. I’ll provide proper credit to the observatory, researchers, and original sources, as applicable, and will respect any copyright or licensing requirements. I’ll seek permission wherever necessary before using any image that requires it.

Any help, suggestions, or links to publicly available image archives would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your time and support! 🙏


r/askastronomy • • 1d ago

La nébuleuse d'Orion - M42

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28 Upvotes

r/askastronomy • • 1d ago

Planetary Science What color are the planets?

13 Upvotes

I have seen so many beautiful photos of the planets of the solar system with filters and colored to show different values, measurements, and materials, in countless different vibrant colors. It makes sense for seeing with is going on, but If I were to look at the planets with my own eyes, would they still be colorful?

Obviously there are Uranus and neptune, but does pluto have red on its surface? Does saturn have blue storms? The list goes on, and does extend into photos of the galaxies and universe in general.

It is beautiful, wonderful, and perfect for understanding what I am looking at, but I can't tell what is fake and what is scientific color modification.


r/askastronomy • • 1d ago

How likely is it that Earth started as "Waterworld?"

2 Upvotes

My limited understanding of leading theories of the formation of Earth is that the rocky body formed first, then most of the water was added by comet bombardment later. I assume that any water that had been part of the initial formation would have been quickly lost anyway, since a certain degree of coherent rotation of the core and cooling of the surface were both necessary to prevent any existing water from vaporizing into a tenuous atmosphere before being blown away by solar wind.

My intuition is that a hotter young Earth with a thinner crust would have enough tectonic/volcanic activity to create "continents" and "islands" well before the planet was cool enough to allow significant bodies of water on the surface, such that by the time the bulk of the water began collecting on the surface, there were already high and low regions and the planet was never fully submerged. But I also know that there is currently enough subterranean water and polar ice that if it were all brought to the surface/melted it would submerge most of the surface; and that crust thickness (or rigidity) sets the limit on how high a surface feature can grow before that region of the surface begins subsiding into the mantle.

What are the chances that there were ever a period, however brief, that the surface of the Earth was both sufficiently spherical and shielded from solar wind, and cool enough with enough water on the surface, that there was no significant proportion of dry land?


r/askastronomy • • 22h ago

Stars

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0 Upvotes

r/askastronomy • • 2d ago

Is this a comet?

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132 Upvotes

The pilot called our attention to this on our flight; he also said it looked like a comet. One of the most incredible sights. From early this morning in the southeast US.


r/askastronomy • • 2d ago

Could the universe fit in the Milky way?

98 Upvotes

I know the Milky way is quite emtpy. Could the matter in the observable universe fit inside it? My guess is no, but the spaciousness of space always surprises me.

Assuming that matter is not compressed nor affected by gravity. Just put the stars, black holes and other stuff inside the Milky Way and see if every object would fit here without expanding the Milky Way outer border.


r/askastronomy • • 1d ago

We need to talk about Alpha Centauri

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0 Upvotes

r/askastronomy • • 1d ago

Invisibility Period of Sirius in Alexandria in 238 BCE Decree of Canopus

2 Upvotes

I have a very particular astronomical question related to Egyptology:

In 238 BCE when the Decree of Canopus was issued, how long would the invisibility period of Sirius have been at the capital in Alexandria, Egypt?

I am specifically interested in knowing if at this particular time and place in history whether it is plausible that the invisibility period of Sirius before its heliacal rising to signal the annual Nile flooding could have been 74 days.

I'm trying to assess whether one particular ancient document that mentioned a 74 day period that appears to end with the rising of Sirius might possibly be referring to its invisibility period.

I've found various websites online and academic articles that indicate that the invisibility period of Sirius varies based on latitude, with sites farther north, such as Alexandria, experiencing longer invisibility periods. Ancient Egyptian religious and astronomical texts apparently frequently stated that it was invisible for 70 days, but obviously that's just a round number that has obvious numerological significance, but apparently it's not that far off from the average from across Egypt.

If anyone happens to know any good reference books that could be used to help try to figure this out, that would likely be helpful too.


r/askastronomy • • 2d ago

Which Planet in Our Solar System Do You Find the Most Interesting?

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13 Upvotes

r/askastronomy • • 1d ago

Need help with finding uni

0 Upvotes

Im a highschooler last year from India , I want to become an astronomer/astrophysist

So can someone help me find good uni and course . I'm trying to go abroad so I don't know anything about which uni should I apply to ormanything


r/askastronomy • • 2d ago

“Proper” orientation for viewing in Reflector

2 Upvotes

When viewing with a reflector, is the “proper” way to look into the eyepiece perpendicular to the OTA or parallel? Obviously it’s just a 90 degree rotation other way, but curious what is standard


r/askastronomy • • 2d ago

Idea about black holes

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3 Upvotes

r/askastronomy • • 2d ago

How would a blue supergiant star look if we could resolve it?

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3 Upvotes

r/askastronomy • • 1d ago

Space into existence.

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0 Upvotes

Please help me answer this question.


r/askastronomy • • 2d ago

Sci-Fi Updated question from earlier

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16 Upvotes

I had made the mistake in my previous post here asking how an accretion disk would affect Earth, mistaking the term for an asteroid belt, the question still stands though, how would an asteroid belt affect life on Earth? What changes to Earth and the rest of the Solar System go through in order for Earth to stay as habitable as it is today? And the other question, how would a planet near Earth affect life on Earth? Using the second image as an example (Helldivers II), I’d like to know how a planet that close with or without an asteroid belt would affect life on Earth. For reference the story takes place in Western Europe, in the late 15th Century, so all of these changes made would need to barely affect life there except for a nice view. Thanks!