Solar system Definition and 318 Threads

I live at 4000 feet above sea level and list night I saw some shooting stars, one real big one coming from the south so i thought I would star-gaze awhile and see if more meteors would come my way, no more came and after awhile I was admiring how well I could see the milky way and then I...

Any comments on the recent N. P. Pitjev and E. V. Pitjeva paper: Constraints on Dark Matter in the Solar System arXiv: http://arxiv.org/abs/1306.5534 MIT Technology Review article...

Still going after 36 years. Voyager surfs Solar System's edge By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23075332

I've recently been assigned a project by one of my professors to animate a solar system style disc using real data computed from a simulation of his, and I'm wondering what the best angle of approach for this project would be. I have some experience in Cinema4D animating things, and I'm...

Perhaps the solar system is expanding with the Universe? For this idea to make sense one must assume that atomic lengths are constant. The current Universal expansion rate is given by: \frac{\dot a}{a} = H_0 where a is the current scale factor and H_0 is the current Hubble parameter...

I'm writing a program that models objects in our solar system in 3D with lots of functionality. (Senor Project in Computer Engineering), since a lot of time an effort has gone into this software so far, I'd like to implement the most accurate details to configure several objects. By objects...

And within the near-galaxy too. If we can find some in close proximity, there's tremendous potential for research. I found these two conflicting articles: (both a few months apart) Survey finds no hint of dark matter near Solar System Astronomers Detect Dark Matter Near The Sun...

Hello. In my book with examples of astronomy, I found this: Calculate, around which the known celestial bodies in the solar system (with a diameter greater than 1000 km) do a probe one complete cycle fastest (without the use of engines). Other movements of these bodies is negligible. If...

The will be a G2v star with the sam mass, radius and luminousity of our sun Planet 1: 0.5 Earth masses orbiting at 0.51 au Planet 2: 1 Earth masses orbiting at 0.63 au planet 3: 2 Earth masses orbiting at 0.78 au planet 4: 0.2 Earth masses orbiting at 0.85 au planet 5: 4 Earth masses...

Homework Statement (a) What is the minimum speed, relative to the Sun, necessary for a spacecraft to escape the solar system if it starts at the Earth's orbit? (a) What is the minimum speed, relative to the Sun, necessary for a spacecraft to escape the solar system if it starts at the...

planets in the solar system lie almost in a plane. Is this because the sun is rotating on itself ?

Hey guys so this question I'm kind of stuck on, Our solar system, starting from Saturn's orbit. So I know the formula is v = sqrt(2GM/r) But not sure what to put for the mass and radius, am i including saturn and planets like uranus and neptune only or all the satellites and stuff to like...

Well, how big things can exist unseen? We did see Pluto - but very importantly managed to not see Eris till very recently. What else may we not see? Eris at 95 a. u. was found recently. The total luminosity of a reflective object decreases with fourth power of distance, so that we could...

Hi. I've been wondering, how could I calculate the escape velocity for a body of mass m which is a certain distance r from the center of the Earth to escape the entire solar system, assuming the distance from the center of mass (aprox. from the sun because it's about 99% of the mass of the solar...

Hi all. I have been working, off and on, on a Solar System simulator (in MS Excel) for many months. I am using the Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg 8/9 8th-order integrator and JPL's initial conditions to try to reproduce an accurate model of planetary motions. This, of course, involves modeling the...

Homework Statement Assuming that the sun lies at the principal focus of the solar system, and given that the semi-major axis and eccentricity of Mars is 1.5237 AU and 0.0934 respectively, calculate: The distance (in AU) when Mars is closest to the Sun (known as perihelion). The angle θ=0°...

Just a thought experiment. Imagine you made scale models of the sun and the planets with the relational standard of measure being a sun the size of a basketball. Now assume that the sun and the planets were all built to scale with the appropriate diameters, densities and masses of the actual 8...

Voyager spacecraft finds solar system is bigger than thought: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/telecon20121203.html http://us.cnn.com/2012/12/03/us/space-voyager-solar-system/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

Hello fellow aerospace engineers and physicists, I am currently working on a project and trying to figure this out. I was wondering if you guys could help me out. Here is the problem statement: A nuclear waste disposal spacecraft is to be sent from Earth in order to carry radioactive waste...

Why is the solar system the way it is?

Orphan or 'rogue' planets may be common, rather than an exception, at least in the galaxy. http://news.yahoo.com/orphan-alien-planet-found-nearby-without-parent-star-122308193.html But how common?

The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia Exoplanet Orbit Database | Exoplanet Data Explorer Numerous planets outside the Solar System have been discovered, and for some curious reason, a large number of them are around Jupiter's mass, but much closer in than one would expect. The usual theory...

I've heard many times that the universe was the size of our solar system after 1 sec. But how is this possible if nothing can travel faster than the speed of light? Are there any theories on this?

Homework Statement Formation of the Solar System The distance of Venus is about 0.7 AU, and the orbital radius of Jupiter is about 5.2 AUs. How many times hotter is the region where Venus formed compared to the region where Jupiter formed? Enter numbers and decimal point only. Round off...

Hi all, As many of you have seen, I am thinking about spaceship trajectories. This next question falls under the same subject, but it is an entirely different question from the previous questions I have asked. Spaceships of the near future will fly in the plane of the solar system. Suppose if...

Hi all, I had an exhaustive time looking on the web for software (either free or commercial) that allows someone to simulate trips into the solar system from planets. I'm looking for something that can simulate spaceship flybys in Hohman Transfer Orbits, Gravity Assists, Oberth Effects...

What avg density [kg/m^3] may I attribute to solar system space dust? Halliday & Resnick give E-18 to E-21 [kg/^3]. This will allow me to compute solar system density, if I know solar system radius[m], ie, distance from edge of solar system to centre-of-mass of our Sun. By 'space dust' I mean...

After reading this article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120802133653.htm I was wondering if the shock wave from the super nova could still be detected? If so, could we figure out what region the supernova came from?

I understand that our solar system was created from the ejected matter from a super nova. Is it possible to find the location of the black hole or neutron star that formed as a result of this super nova?

Einstein tells us time and space are linked, could redshift be caused by a change in time rather than space? Including uncertainties how close is the start of this period of universal expansion to the start of the solar system? Could the 2 coincide?

Per NASA's press release ( http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/voyager20120614.html ) of 14 June 2012, interstellar cosmic rays are striking the spacecraft at an increased rate. Voyager 1 has already encountered solar wind moving laterally with respect to the solar surface, and even in...

i doing the solar system design. seem like everything is on track now, but just the cable loss i not really know how to calculate, can anyone help me. i has formula on this (resistance on the cable (Ω/km)x length of the cable(L) x current of the solar panel(A)). for the equation above , is...

I'm doing the solar system design now . so far seem like everything is on track, but now i face a problem on the DC cable loss. is that has any formula to calculate the dc cable loss, i has using this formula is (losses of the cable (Ω/km)x length X current produce by the solar panel...

Thanks again to all who participated in the Hand Grenade in Solar Orbit discussion. Here's a related question that was prompted in my mind from that discussion: Suppose we could magically insert a new nano-planet (we'll call it "Bob") into our existing solar system. Let's suppose that...

I've been building a solar system integrator using C++, OpenGL for graphics, Qt for UI and I would like some info about the choice of integrator. The project is at a pretty advanced stage now and I'm currently adding all moons since graphically it's doing well, I can move about the whole system...

Specifically, could Venus have otherwise formed as one, while leaving the rest of the structure of the solar system pretty much intact? Failing that, could one have formed anywhere in the solar system?

Dear Forum Users, I am looking for a database of proton fluxes. I have found already the SOHO database: http://umtof.umd.edu/pm/ but I need also the database for energy range of 1keV to 100 keV range. Does someone could send me some hints where to search? nykon

Hi, ive been studying formation of solar system and couldn't find an explanation for why the sun didn't absorb heavy elements from early solar system? why they remained around the sun and formed planets and not get absorbed to the centre? thanks in advance

Anyone heard of the "solar snake" Solar system theory? hello this is my first post and i am far from being a physicist or an astronomy major so please bear with me A friend sent me this link Mod note: link removed this man named Dr. Bhat wrote a book explaining how the solar system is not on...

Hey guys. This is my first post here and I hope many more will follow. Now on to the topic at hand… I’ve been doing some research into the solar system’s formation and evolution. As many of you are probably aware, the solar system’s heavier elements are believed to be the remnants of a...

I am a 17 year old high school student in Alabama, and after my astronomy test today, I decided to calculate the mass of all interstellar gas and dust in our solar system (under the assumption that the solar system extends to 55,000 AU in all directions) and I calculated the mass to be a...

So I was talking with a guy last night who was trying to tell me this: Our galaxy is stirring up as it spins and this might cause another planet to come along and collide with earth. My first comment was that the stuff in the galaxy is all caught up in the same "stirring" motion, so it's not...

The panels are up. 7kW system will be 110% of our electrical needs. Grid intertie, no batteries, no pile of money up front: $109/month for the next 15 years. Plus dig the new deck I built last summer. --Chi "Happy Homeowner" Meson

And directly related to that: How can we be sure of the speed of light? I've been searching for a good answer as to how we measure the SOL and am yet to have someone give me a solid explanation. Today we shine a laser at a mirror on the moon and time how long it takes to get back. What it...

Homework Statement Consider a planet in some solar system which has a mass double the mass of Earth and same density as of Earth . What is the weight of object on the planet in terms of 'W' , where 'W' is weight of object on Earth Homework Equations W=mg ... density = M / V . ...

Hi everyone, i'm looking for a website that can show me how the solar system was in place the minute i was born. November 6, 1982 6:32 a.m. I found this website but i don't know how precise it is. http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Solar please let me know! thanks.

Has anyone figured out or tried this: It seems to me that since light is bent by G fields, that looking close enough to the side of a black hole, some of that light near the event horizon may have escaped its G field after its trajectory has changed significantly... possibly redirected enough...

Hi ! Somewhere I read about our solar system is going slowly out of our galaxy (moving backward from the center, but then I can also read our solar system is approaching center with sonic speed. So how is our solar system actually moving toward the centre of milky way (beside rotation around...

Is there any effect of expansion of world on our solar system? i.e. Is there any change in distance between Earth and sun due to expansion of world?

Hi, I am wondering how to describe a position of our solar system to some other extraterrestrial intelligence in some distant galaxy to find us? Is it possible or not? i mean if such guidance exist for any galaxy or they have to track back movement of your probe or spaceship etc. and some...