Astronomy Definition and 805 Threads

Hello! I'm a senior in high school and I plan on getting a bachelors in computer engineering. I want to minor is astronomy (or double major although I heard engineering is very demanding so I would prefer to minor astronomy). When I complete the four years, and if I realize that I want to be an...

I’ve read that Urban LeVerrier was able to calculate using Newtonian mechanics the precession of the perihelion point of Mercury’s orbit (1859). Is there a website or paper that shows the calculation in detail? In particular: How would one decide on the distance between Mercury and the other...

Hello, I am Harshil from india. I have completed my Bachelor's in electrical and now i want to do Master's in Astronomy, so i have few questions please answre it... 1) Can i get the admission in MS/Msc astronomy if i have done electrical engineering? 2) If the answer of first question is...

Given that L is the luminosity of a single star and there are n stars evenly distributed throughout this thin spherical shell of radius r with thickness dr, what is the total intensity from this shell of stars? My calculations were as follows: Intensity is the power per unit area per steradian...

My apologies for not detailing my attempts at a solution; I'm not sure how to to digitally illustrate or describe the various setups I attempted before looking at the solution to this problem. I am also ONLY asking about the setup, though I included the full question for context. The solution to...

Homework Statement: A binary star system consists of M1 and M2 separated by a distance D. M1 and M2 are revolving with an angular velocity w in circular orbits about their common center of mass. Mass is continuously being transferred from one star to the other. This transfer of mass causes...

image_data = fits.getdata(alma_image, ext=0) plt.figure() plt.imshow(image_data, cmap='viridis', vmin=-4, vmax=4) plt.xlim(540,640) plt.ylim(540,640) plt.colorbar(extend='both') plt.clim(0, 1) plt.show()

Summary: Looking for a textbook to bring a high school Physics teacher up to speed on basic astronomy. I've been teaching high school Physics and Chemistry for 18 years. I've been tapped to teach an Astronomy course next year, despite never having taken an actual astronomy course. Given the...

Let’s say to the average Astronomer conducting research; generalizing the research to “astronomy” ; which would be more useful for the “average” Astronomer on a day to day basis: Quantum Mechanics or General Relativity? Obviously most are, but which so more? Which would be referred to more?

I know that it would vary depending on the type of research a specific astronomer would be doing ( Astrophysics/Cosmology research versus an Astronomer researching exoplanets ) ; but in your opinion, “how much” or “how well” should an Astronomer with a graduate degree in Astronomy know General...

For all the astronomers and astrophysicists out there, what are your preferred methods of dealing with large swaths of data? What are your go to programming languages, and software?

I was speaking with my prof about the requirements for the applied physics major track offered at my school, and she said some very surprising things. Just for context, I’m interested in pursuing observational astrophysics/astronomy in grad school later. She said that I can skip diff equations...

I’ve heard that C++, python, and IDL are most commonly used in observational astronomy research, but how common is R in the field?

Imagine a 400-meter-long pipe with a 1600-meter diameter, floating in inter-planetary space. It is spinning at 0.5 gravity along its major axis and there are no secondary-axes spins. We need to increase rotation to 0.85 g. Its density is a uniform 2.3 kg/m³ and it weighs 49,120,056 kg. Thanks to...

Hi, I go to a small liberal arts college and I'm majoring in physics. The college I attend has a VERY unique academic curriculum, with few required core courses, and one can have an oxford style tutorial in almost any area in physics, no matter how advanced. I want to pursue graduate school in...

The majority of the universe is made up of a currently mysterious entity that pervades space: dark energy. We don’t know exactly what it is, but we do know that dark energy accelerates the expansion of space.

Sorry, I'm not an astronomer. This question relates to the book "S." by Doug Dorst. I understand that the celestial coordinates have a zero-point at the vernal equinox. (0h, 0m, 0s RA, 0⁰, 0", 0' Dec.) I also understand that it's possible to map these coordinates to spherical, or...

Hey all, firstly let me give some background, i`m a Cloud Computing Engineer and have been in the I.T. industry for the past 20 years since I left university. I have always had an interest in science and astronomy (My dad was a keen amateur astronomer) but never really taken it very seriously...

Homework Statement Given that there are 10-2 Ellipticals per Mpc3 and my garden telescope can reach to 14 mag. How large an area of sky would I need to survey to find 100 Elliptical galaxies ? (assume the typical absolute magnitude for an Elliptical galaxy is -21 mag).Homework Equations...

Homework Statement Assuming a Salpeter IMF with upper and lower mass limits of 0.1 and 20 M⊙ respectively, calculate: (i) the mass point at which half the mass formed in a stellar cluster lies in more massive systems and half in less massive systems. ii) the mass point at which half the...

I graduated from Georgia Tech a few years ago with a Bachelors in Applied Mathematics and now I am currently a software developer, however, my passion is in astronomy. I have looked at opportunities in astronomy that is towards the engineering route i.e. image processing engineer, detector...

Phil Plait, creator of Bad Astronomy, has an article on Planet 9. Overall, it's pretty good, but there was one part that got my hackles up: It may be more clear, but at a cost of being more wrong.

Hi, I am a retired Organic Chemist. I was looking around for the answer to a trig question and found this site. It looks interesting so I signed up. I am also an amateur astronomer, and have an interest in arduinos and raspberry pis as well as other computers. I mainly use linux and my...

I just finished my personal statement for physics REU applications, and I was wondering if anyone would be willing to read it and give it some critiques or general advice. If accepted, this will be my first REU. I'm applying to 10 schools. Thanks! *** Physics never actually caught my eye until...

Homework Statement When comparing image sizes of the hotter stars with the cooler stars, do hotter stars consistently appear larger in one image and cooler stars consistently appear smaller in the other image? Why or why not? Homework Equations Stellar Spectra Classification[/B]The Attempt...

Hello, Well, first, I’m sorry if I’m doing mistakes in the english… (not my first language). I’m not profesionnal on physics and astronomy but I’m really curious. I have somes basics questions : Where is the place of our solar system in the milky way ? Is it possible to have like « physical...

Hi all, I am interested in advancing my education in theoretical physics, specifically topics concerning quantum field theories and quantum gravity. However, I have a somewhat rocky background as an early undergrad and while my Master's degree was achieved with great success in the classroom...

Hi, I was told today that I will be starting my EE (an EE stands for Extended Essay, where we have to write 4000 words research paper where you analyse data, do experiments etc... for a particular topic of your choice) One of my main areas of interest in physics is astronomy and I would like to...

Good morning, I would like to know if its possible to do my Master degree in any field related to space and astronomy, actually I graduated with bachelor of applied science (Medical Imaging). I deal with x-ray and imaging machines. My courses were somewhere between biology, x-ray (radiation)...

Hi all! Happy New year! I will select my supervisor soon but i want to involve in the field that uses QM or GR frequently I love physics and i want to apply physics to explain astrophysical phenomenon. I know that Compact objects and Astrochemistry use such physics but i wonder to know more...

I'm majoring in physics and I'm planning on pursuing computational astrophysics in graduate school. Will a second major in computer science/programming look good to graduate schools, and/or will it give me great advantages in the field of computational astrophysics or astronomy?

This is not a homework. In Chapter 8: Central-Force Motion, in the Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems book by Thornton and Marion, Fifth Edition, page 325, Problem 8-19, we are asked to calculate the mass of the planet Saturn. In the instructor's solution manual, the solution for this...

Is there really much of a difference between an astronomy PhD and an astrophysics PhD? There seems to be a lot of overlap in the fields, and it seems that both can qualify you for many of the same careers, it just depends on the PhD focus. For an example, I'm very interested in almost all areas...

hi there, i have always loved Science, and from astronomy transitioned into particle physics because of the Higg Boson, learning about the implications of Dark Matter, and Dark Energy. i am also studying things like Zero Point Energy, have always been fascinated with the flight dynamics of...

I made three charts from several different sources plotting the luminosity and distance from Earth of 26 to 300 Stars. In each chart, there appears to be a correlation between a star's luminosity (in solar units) and its distance from Earth (or solar system, whichever you prefer) in light years...

1. Homework Statement The Initial Mass Function (IMF) defines the distribution of stellar masses created in a star-forming event. The probability P(m)dm of forming a star with a mass between m and m + dm is given by P(m)dm = km−α dm where α is the exponent of the power law and k is a constant...

hey! EDIT: I didn’t post this in homework help because there aren’t any computational questions, it’s just conceptual My assignment scenario consists of a star (blackbody) surrounded by an expanding shell of hot gas. I’m given its spectrum and it is a continuous emission spectrum. Emission...

I'm willing to make postgraduate studies in astronomy or astrophysics so which major is more suitable for me applied or pure phyics?

Hey guys! I'm Urmi and I'm just a regular teen who's crazy about Physics. Physics has been my area of interest since my step into middle school and now when I see TV Series like Stranger Things, I feel so darn good that kids nowadays (and in the 80s) dig science stuffs so freaking much. I dream...

Recently I found a real gem for astronomy enthusiasts and junior undergraduate students. It has a plenty of pictures, diagrams, links to other resources and visualizations. You can access this excellent up-to-date Astronomy textbook (cca 1200 pages) for free in web view or PDF. I have included...

Hello! I am a current undergraduate physics student with a keen interest in primarily astronomy and particle physics. Keen to help out some with some basic homework questions and read more about people's experiences in the field of physics!

The question “how do we know the composition of the sun” falls shorts everywhere I look. 1. There is the spectral absorption lines. Explanations given how that works, indicate how we know the elements, but fails to tell us how we know about the preponderance of Hydrogen and Helium...

Hey everyone! In a dilemma again, oops. I'm in the physics and astronomy program in university - going into my second year. I've completed courses for Astronomy and Physics in first year (same courses except astronomy has an extra - astronomy- course). Now that I'm selecting courses for second...

If a celestial body's kinetic energy (say, the Moon's) surpassed the energy necessary to exceed the gravitational binding energy (GBE), would said body break apart because of it? For example, the Moon is currently orbiting the Earth at a speed of 1020 meters per second, giving it a kinetic...

For a long time I'd heard about Iridium flares, but not taken much trouble to see one. This week I took advantage of the uncommon spell of clear nights to pop out and look at a couple. Not quite what I'd expected, so I went to look into them a little more. One of the things I discovered is...

I ask because time is defined with reference to this day (the SI second is based on a caesium clock is calibrated with reference to the 1952 ephemeris time standard, which was based on a second being 1/86 400th of Jan 0, 1900 (with Jan 0 being Dec 31 of 1899). So... how do I calculate the...

One day consists of slightly more than 360° of rotation (360.9856°) on it's axis (due to Earth's orbit around the Sun). I imagine that one orbit is also either > or < 360° around the sun, relative to the motion of the sun around some object. Is this true, or is the orbit of the Earth...

Astronomers can determine the presence various elements in a star through spectroscopy of the incoming light from that star. The characteristic spectral lines of each element are formed by electrons transitioning between the various orbital energy levels around the nucleus of their atom. But...

Copyright reserved to Prof. Bharadwaj and NPTEL, Govt. of India. Lectures: http://www.nptel.ac.in/courses/115105046/ Syllabus: http://www.nptel.ac.in/syllabus/syllabus.php?subjectId=115105046

Copyright reserved to Prof. Bharadwaj and NPTEL, Govt. of India. Lectures: http://www.nptel.ac.in/courses/115105046/ Syllabus: http://www.nptel.ac.in/syllabus/syllabus.php?subjectId=115105046