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Unanswered Questions

161 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
10 votes
0 answers
214 views

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 ...
7 votes
0 answers
256 views

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 ...
6 votes
0 answers
166 views

Source of information on density profile of a red giant star?

Is there a good source of information of the expected density profile inside a red giant star? I have read that when a star such as the sun has converted much or most of the hydrogen in its core into ...
6 votes
1 answer
189 views

Do narrow lines in the spectra of O- and B- type stars always indicate magnetic fields?

I was reading a paper on the differential emission measures of a set of hot O- and B- type stars. As the authors discuss in Section 3 (page 959), two stars, $\tau$ Sco and $\theta^1$ Ori C, have ...
6 votes
1 answer
510 views

Could non-supernova carbon, oxygen, or silicon flashes be observed?

I was reading about the helium flash, the short but sudden onset of helium fusion in certain red giant stars. As I understand, the upper (nondegenerate) layers of the star absorb the energy as they ...
5 votes
0 answers
70 views

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? ...
5 votes
0 answers
186 views

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 ...
5 votes
0 answers
82 views

How is angular momentum transferred between a neutron star and its accretion disk?

Accreting neutron stars can either gain or loose angular momentum via interaction with their accretion disks. This leads to either spin-up or spin-down. Which of the two is the case, depends on the ...
5 votes
0 answers
62 views

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 (...
5 votes
0 answers
123 views

How is the age of a star on the Henyey track calculated?

I was reading Stellar Evolution in Early Phases of Gravitational Contraction, by Chushiro Henyey, where he writes, If $L \propto R^{-\alpha}$ along the path, the age of a star from the time when $R=...
4 votes
0 answers
60 views

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 ...
4 votes
0 answers
113 views

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'...
4 votes
0 answers
81 views

From what distance could the Sun's planetary nebula be seen entirely with free eye?

When collapsing to a white dwarf, a red giant Sun would emit a planetary nebula. How far from the Sun would that nebula stretch at most? Also: At about what distance could you see the planetary nebula ...
4 votes
0 answers
101 views

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 ...
4 votes
0 answers
269 views

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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