Unanswered Questions
138 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
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How well conserved is etendue in extreme gravitational lensing scenarios?
This excellent answer to Could dark matter exist in the Universe in the form of sufficiently dense objects? includes the following image and description:
Light from the background galaxy circles a ...
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Get the expression of probed volume between 2 redshifts
1) I can't manage to find/justify the relation (1) below, from the common relation (2) of a volume.
2) It seems the variable r is actually the comoving distance and not comoving coordinates (with ...
CommunityBot
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Do all the accretion disks around a compact object (black hole or neutron star) emit astrophysical jet outflow?
Do all the accretion disks around a compact object (black hole or neutron star) emit astrophysical jet outflow? I mean is it mandatory for a jet to be emitted from an accretion disk?
If so, then why?
...
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Explain as simply as possible how the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect is used to estimate the Hubble constant
The Sunyaev–Zeldovich effect (SZ effect) is useful in determining the Hubble constant because it is independent of the cosmic distance ladder. This effect occurs when CMB (cosmic microwave background) ...
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What are some good books/online resources for astronomy problem sets?
I am currently studying for the international olympiad for astronomy and astrophysics (the syllabus can be found here: https://www.ioaastrophysics.org/syllabus/). I am currently using Carroll Ostlie's ...
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Strength of core-envelope coupling in stars
For a star with a given Zero-Age Main Sequence (ZAMS) mass, as a function of metallicity how strongly is the star's core coupled to its envelope?
I understand that the core-envelope boundary is only (...
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CMBR: Is the cold spot a hint at the edge of the universe?
Could the big cold spot in the CMBR map be a sign that almost all radiation from that direction has already passed us, and that be a sign that the end of the universe is closest to earth in that ...
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Explanation for Planck 2018 temperature fluctuations strongest peaks
As it can be seen from Plank 2018 Cosmic Microwave Background temperature fluctuations data-
There are 3 sharp peaks at multipole expansions $\ell \approx 250, 550, 800 $. Also as multipole expansion ...
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How much more mass would Mars need to currently have enough pressure for liquid water and oxygen?
My question is whether Mars just about failed to meet the threshold or missed it by a lot. It's been dry for 3 billion years. How much bigger would it have needed to be to buy it that extra time? Let'...
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Cosmology : Formula for the bias of galaxies
first I have posted originally on the physics stackexchange but I have not had answers about my question, so I try my luck on this specific forum (if forums leaders want to delete the original post on ...
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Why the Hubble constant is so inconsistent?
Having a look on Wikipedia I noticed the following values (of the last 6 years) for the Hubble constant:
67.6±0.7 SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey
73.00±1.75 Hubble Space ...
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Why MIT's Benjamin Rackham says "nearby ultracool dwarf SPECULOOS-3" would look "purplish-red, spotted, and flaring" from an airless orbiting planet?
May 15, 2024 MIT News article Newly discovered Earth-sized planet may lack an atmosphere includes the following:
“We can say from our spectra and other observations that the star has a temperature of ...
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Gravitational recoil with stars/planets...?
When two black holes are merging, the resulting merge can be ejected if one of the black holes had less mass than the other one, so the gravitational waves emitted by both of them is unbalanced, and ...
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Potential energy in an expanding universe
A question you wonderful geniuses can hopefully answer. Imagine a piece of string drawn between two galaxies. Space between the galaxies is expanding. What force is being applied to the string? Where ...
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Deviations of conservation laws in the context of cosmological evolution?
If energy is "not conserved" in General Relativity (or at least, it is difficult to define it) in the context of an accelerating expanding spacetime (like it happens in our Universe), are ...
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Cosmic microwave background the same as the first visible light at 379,000 yrs after the Big Bang? How do these measure the age of the universe?
Was the CMB emitted at the same time as visible light at 379,000 yrs after the BB ? Was this a one time event ? If headed away from us, how does it measure the age of the universe?
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How can a busy high school student get into learning Astronomy?
I'm a high school student that has loved physics for quite some time, but have only started dabbling with the more complex things. I know a fair bit about quantum mechanics and such as I like it, but ...
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What is the main difference between cyclotron, synchrotron, and gyrosynchrotron radiation?
How are these various types of radiation generated? What is the main difference between them? Can someone suggest a book related to these radiations?
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Is it Possible to Calculate The Centre of Mass of the Visible Universe?
It is easy to deduce that we appear to be at the centre of the visible universe, assuming the visible universe is approximately isotropic and homogeneous in all its properties, including expansion ...
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Why are CMB peak heights sensitive to the physical densities
A very simple question: why should it be that the CMB power spectrum allows constraints to be placed on the combination of parameters
$$\omega_c = \Omega_c h^2$$
$$\omega_b = \Omega_b h^2$$
as opposed ...
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Superconducting space dust; what transient fields could induce persistent current loops?
Science Alert's Superconductivity Has Been Discovered in Meteorites For The First Time quotes from Superconductivity found in meteorites (Wampler et al. PNAS March 23, 2020)
The paper describes the ...
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Information on Planetary nebula formed from the death of our star the 'Sun'!
I want to know the expansion rate, composition, mass and density of hydrogen present of a Planetary nebula similar to that which will be formed after the death of our star the sun.
Knowing these ...
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Combined mass of binary stars
This is Question 17 from USAAAO Practice Round 2015. The answer is D. It would be best if someone can detail out the workings.
In a nearby star system, two stars are seen to orbit each other every
...
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Can "rock stars" form from interstellar dust?
Imagine a large and massive dust cloud made of solid phase micrometeoroids, asteroids and larger planetoids, all material in it is in solid phase, and contains no hydrogen or other volatiles in gas ...
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Mass of the universe
How do we calculate the mass of the universe taking into consideration dark matter?
Mass of visible matter can be computed by stellar method, but how do we calculate mass of dark matter which we don'...
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Total number density of galaxies and problematic expression in practise
This post comes from physics exchange forum, I have transfered it here, maybe I will be luckier since I have not received answers on the other forum.
Here is the issue :
I am asked to give the ...
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What is the spectral power output of a typical galaxy?
I'm looking for a function which gives the typical isotropic spectral power of light emitted by an entire galaxy on the whole electromagnetic spectrum (in watts per frequency unit), as a function of ...
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What is meant by ionization states?
I am going through the theory of Saha equation but I am not able to understand the concept of ionisation state? What are ionization states actually?
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Why is the E-mode polarization spectrum out of phase with the Temperature spectrum?
The E-mode polarization power spectrum of the Cosmic Microwave Background displays the same acoustic peaks that can be seen in the (more famed) temperature power spectrum. However, they are out of ...
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Angular momentum in planetary disk formation
Reading about the formation of planetary disks, one of the major problems, it seems like, is the evacuation of angular momentum. Aparently planets can't form with the amount o angular momentum the ...
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How exactly can the hypothetical conformal invariance of the CMB spectrum be established by analyzing tensor modes?
In the introduction of this paper at the top of p11, it is mentioned that a hypothetical enhancement of the scale invariance of the CMB spectrum to conformal invariance could potentially be ...
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Would we know if the universe was rotating?
I was wondering what we would observe if the universe had a small rotation. My conclusion was that galaxies on the equatorial plane of the universe would be slightly more redshifted than galaxies than ...
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What would the Big Crunch theoretically look/feel like?
In the Big Crunch theory, the expansion of the universe reverses, resulting in all matter contracting into a single point. Imagine you are alive at the time of this event. What would the sky look like?...
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Local anisotropies in the expansion of the universe and tidal forces...?
In the context of the large-scale structure of the universe, there can be local anisotropies (https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2021/05/aa40296-21/aa40296-21.html).
I understand from this ...
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How is an index of n=0 possible for the Lane-Emden equation?
I was recently showing that an index of $n=0$ for the Lane-Emden equation results in constant density throughout the star. However, in my calculations I had to use the constant $\alpha$ which can be ...
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What could these LMC objects in this color-color diagram be?
I have performed a color-color and colour-magnitude plot of various sources detected in an LMC image (JWST NIRCAM F200W, F150W and F115W filters). I then also queried SIMBAD to collect relevant ...
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Could rogue planets with cold nucleus have winds or water currents/waves due to the planet's rotation?
Are there any types of wind or waves caused and produced only and exclusively by a planet's rotation? Not influenced by the planet's rotation, but produced solely by it?
In the case of waves, are ...
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Cosmic background radiation - what frequency tells us?
I understand that cosmic microwave background radiation is remnant of the universe after 380,000y of the origin.
To me, this radiation is still a wave which has a microwave frequency and I also ...
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Is there an equation that can give position of a satellite around a parent body as a function of time?
I’ve been looking into this lately, and most sources I have used solve this problem numerically. I was thus wondering if there is a proper equation to solve for position without numerical, especially ...
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Conversion of 1D plot in 3D plot gives different physics
I am to track the path of a particle due to Lorentz force of the planet magnetic field, assuming there is no gravitational force on it.
The equation of motion due to Lorentz force in rotating ...
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Abundance of an element Xi in mass fraction from its abundance by number
How can I calculate the expression of the abundance of a given element Xi in mass fraction from its abundance by number Ni/NH, where log(NH) = 12 is the abundance by number of hydrogen?
I've tried the ...
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Equation describing Energy Transport due to Radiation in the interiors of stars
I am considering a very elementary stellar structure and I'm required to derive an equation to describe the energy transport due to radiation. The answer I am supposed to obtain is:
$$\frac{dT}{dr}= -\...
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"First gamma-ray eclipses from ‘spider’ star systems" - but have other types of gamma-ray eclipses been observed?
The January 28, 2023 NASA News item NASA’s Fermi Detects First Gamma-Ray Eclipses From ‘Spider’ Star Systems begins:
Scientists have discovered the first gamma-ray eclipses from a special type of ...
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How do I calculate the flux density of a substellar object?
I am currently trying to generate photometric passband colors for brown dwarfs and planets generated through MESA (Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics). I believe I understand the ...
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57
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The necessary conditions for driving winds with dust (Dust-driven Wind)
So lately I've read Intro to stellar winds (particularly chapter 7 Dust-driven winds) by Lamers & cassinelli, I forget how many times I've read this but I still don't really understand. So in the ...
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Where can I find definitions of minimum detectable flux sensitivity and signal to noise ratio?
I am struggling to find references that give precise definitions to these concepts. Even in PhD theses on the subject of gamma-ray astrophysics, for example, students do not define it precisely or ...
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Is it possible to infer information about the structure of the universe beyond the observable one?
Is it possible to infer information about the structure of the universe beyond the observable one, by observing its effects on the parts we can see? Can for example gravity from sources we cannot see ...
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Cosmology context plotting : Covariance matrix - Script to plot Omega_m vs Omega_Lambda diagram in Python
I have covariance matrices and Markov chains coming from the SCP (Supernova Cosmology Project) and I would like to plot all these data
in the particular diagram Omega_Lambda vs Omega_m or w vs Omega_m....
CommunityBot
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What is the sun's maximum influence on a magnetic object?
How much magnetic repulsion could the sun's magnetic field produce on an magnetic object? Consider the object is ideal: It could be flat, to create more resistance, balanced, to stay on the opposing ...
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Looking for analytical expression of Cosmic Variance - Poisson distribution?
I have an expression of Matter Angular power spectrum which can be computed numerically by a simple rectangular integration method (see below). I make appear in this expression the spectroscopic ...
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