Solar system Definition and 307 Threads

I'm hoping that some of you brilliant scientists can help me understand the realities of a world that I'm building for a story in a distant solar system... I’m building a sci-fi world for a story that takes place on a distant planet that is multiple times the size of earth, but hosts similar...

Below is the arXiv free reprint being referenced by the above magazine article. Ironically, they were using ALMA in order to attempt to confirm the exoplanet previously found orbiting Alpha Centauri B when this object was discovered. The brighter the object the more likely it would have been...

I am really, really stuck! I am trying to write java code to model the solar system, or at least currently just earth, the sun and mercury. I've made a big mistake somewhere, the planets are very unstable and either move in a line or spiral inwards! I just wanted to check that I'm doing things...

I know that if I have a two-body system, the sun and the earth, then the common centre of mass is orbited every 365 days. What about if I add another planet in, say jupiter? Does the sun still orbit the centre of mass every 365 days? With two bodies, their orbital period about the centre of mass...

Okay, so if I we're in space and I kept going down past the solar system, what would I find? would there be another universe? Or would there be a flat surface?

I'm an undergrad (so my simulation is VERY simple), writing a java program to simulate the solar system. And I'm a bit stuck on how to calculate a couple of important things. I'm literally right at the start of this, with just a sun and an earth. Initially I had my Earth going round my...

If one writes down the Newton's equations of motion for the Earth, the forces that act on the Earth are the gravitational forces exerted by all other massive bodies, such as the Sun, the Moon, the planets etc. The largest of these forces is that of the Sun: keeping into account only the Sun's...

If anyone knows a reference that discusses this question, please post a citation. Naively it seems that any central mass would attract DM from the mass's general vicinity so that an approximately spherically symmetric accumulation would develop over time about the central mass. This seems to...

Hi Is there a software in which I can for example change the orbit or angular velocity of the moon and observe it's effects on Earth's daytime/nighttime? I want to use it for teaching so I need it to be visual. thanks.

I want to know that if we double the mass of the planets and our sun in the solar system,then will it make any difference in the orbits of the planets?will it be necessary to double the distance of each planet from sun?(I am asking it assuming that the sun on doubling of its mass,don't turn into...

Suppose a star passed by our solar system. How close would it have to come before the orbits of planets was significantly and permanently perturbed? How close to cast a planet out of orbit? Let's say that that star is a cold neutron star, so we know its mass (1.5 solar masses) and don't have...

This question and answer are posed in Kim Stanley Robinson's novel "2312". My question is, is this all made up? Or might it be accurate?

Here's the main problem. I'll like a function of distance with respect to time which moves the planets in accordance to Kepler's law: planets in orbit travel equal area in equal time. I use a blender, a 3D app that allows for path programming.

Hi As far as I know the Earth orbits around the Sun Earth barycenter while the Sun orbits the Solar System BaryCenter formed by the changing center of mass of the Solar system. So even while the Sun orbits the SSBC and Earth orbits the Sun-Earth BC it would not be true to say the Earth...

Like asteroid clusters or any kind of what-not thought to be part of our solar system?

Homework Statement Hi there, I wish to use Newton's Laws in conjunction with Euler's Method to model the motion of a planet around a star.Homework Equations 2nd Law F = m*a Law of Universal Gravitation F = -G*M1*M2/r^2 The Attempt at a Solution [/B] First I combined the two laws above...

Dear All,I understand that one of the most popular theories concerning the origin of the solar system begins with cloud of gas and dust (called a nebula), assumed to be the remnants of a supernova; in order to explain elements such as iron and above.That this nebula begins to flatten into a...

So I am working on making a simulation that shows the habitable zone of our solar system from now until our sun reaches the end of it's red giant phase. The sun will die when it is 10 billion years old and will reach the end of the red giant stage at 5 billion years. I know the habitable zone...

I've made a virtual solar system in Java3d. I'm trying to implement the orbiting of planets and ships. I get the basic formula F = G((m1*m2)/r^2))[\code] and saw a discussion here about the formula in 3d but, I don't know how to read a letter with an arrow over it, lol. Can someone help me...

by Ken Croswell If ET exists, he probably lives in a solar system with many planets. That's the implication of a new study that finds that the more planets a solar system has, the more circular their orbits tend to be. Link (including a color chart showing the correlation of orbital...

I am trying to find references for the the Wikipedia article Frost line (astrophysics) I am having a hard time finding a reference for the "Sublimation temperature of water in vacuum" that is used for calculation of the current snow line. E.g.: I have found 150K in several places, without any...

Suppose an observer flies through our solar system at ##v \approx c## relative to the Sun, such that he sees each planet's (and the sun's) mass as greatly increased. What happens to the orbits of the planets? Since he sees the center of mass of the solar system as flying past him at ##v \approx...

hi guys, why our solar system is flat? why planets are not revolving arround the sun as atoms revolve arround the nucleus? why galaxys are flat? why black holes are flat?

Hello Physics Forums Community, I have completed ODE, 3 semesters of intro Calc, 3 semesters of intro physics, taking linear now. I have recently gotten the opportunity to work on little projects with a professor of astrophysics at a university. On the first meeting, the professor handed me...

Is it possible for our solar system to be located inside a black hole which is our galactic centre?

Hi, Does the solar system spin around an axis as it travels through space, much like a planet rotates as it orbits the sun and if it does where is the axis point. I know the solar system is orbiting the centre of the galaxy, I was just wondering if it behaved like a planet because things tend...

I'm trying to create a chronological timeline of the formation of solids in the solar system with examples of meteorites for each step. Let me know if this order looks right. First solids condense in the solar nebula (Calcium aluminum inclusions in carbonaceous chrondrites). Chondrules rapidly...

Imagine somewhere far within the solar system there was an exact copy of our solar system (Proportional). But the overall proportion was increased by 100. Imagine a supergiant star/sun with a proportional planets to that of our solar system. So in theory the people would look like giants in...

I wanted to find out the difference between a supernova, and the energy it would take to blow up the Solar System. This guy: http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2001-11/1004909251.As.r.html Says it would take the equiv of 5.09x 10^37 Tons of TNT to blow up the Solar System...

Is there an estimate of how long after the big-bang could a solar system similar to ours (ie star and orbiting planets) have first existed?

I'm trying to get a basic understanding of Earth's origins in order to teach an advanced oceanography course to high school students this summer. The course starts with one lecture on the origins of the universe, solar system, the earth, and the ocean. I'm trying to understand, why did...

Apologies for a long preamble. There is a simple question at the end of this post. Wikipedia and the PF archive were not forthcoming on this subject. Saturn's rings seem sharply bounded in the vertical dimension. If I got it right, the initial orbits of debris were centered on the orbits of...

Homework Statement Let's suppose that we wanted to launch a spacecraft of mass m out of the Solar System. a) If we want to launch the spacecraft directly from Earth, what boost Δv would be required and what direction relative to the Earth's velocity about the Sun would this boost be...

okay so here are the lengths of years and days on the planets: Mercury: Day: 176 Earth days Year: 88 1 year on mercury is daytime and the other is nightime Venus: Day: 243 Earth days Year: 224.7 Earth days Earth: day: 1 Earth day Year: 365 Earth days Mars: Day: 1.03 Earth...

Hey there, first time posting, I have casually browsed this forum for a while. Anyway on to the question, I am trying to solve in the best way possible the N-Body problem, I am at a complete loss, I have no idea what I can do, I have tried figuring out my self different integrators such as...

At first, i would have questions about Io. How should i imagine the electric flux between it and Jupiter? Does it make a series of lightnings, aurora borealis, jam nearby radio communications? In an Asimov book they needed some magitech to reach Io, is it really so deep in the gravity well...

Ok I know our moon is getting farther away due to gravity (tidal force indirect), basically giving it kinetic energy and exchanging that for orbital energy. If the moon was in retrograde orbit, i.e. Triton around Neptune, it would work the opposite way and pull the moon closer to the...

Homework Statement I am constructing an N-body simulation in Java that will ultimately model the solar system. I am testing the reliability of it by slowly increasing the number of bodies in the simulation. So I am starting off with the Sun, Mercury and Venus. I am looking to find the...

Homework Statement I am creating an astrophysical simulation involving an arbritary number of particles and each particle is identified via a mass, label, position vector and velocity vector. I have made classes which can perform operations on these vectors and I also have a class which...

Ok, so I've been passionately researching my latest novel idea as it takes place in an extremely far fetched future with long range interstellar travel and all that and the brink of controlled time modulation etc... While doing this, I've been able to name every site, system, planet of...

Hi, This is my first post here, so if I make mistakes please be gentle with me. I have a 'problem' with a solar system I'm developing for a series of stories I'm writing. Those stories have nothing to do with Earth, and are set in a system unlike our own. To introduce the system, the...

Here's the Cassini image from Saturn. Suppose I map an x-y coordinate system on that picture with the Earth (that pale blue dot down there) at the origin. Without looking at anything else, can you place points at the perimeter of the square picture, giving the angle pointing to where the sun...

Stellar or Solar system Astronomy?? I'm an engineering student and next quarter I will have space for an elective class and I wanted to do something with astronomy. My options are stellar astronomy and Solar System Astronomy, my school only offers these two courses, and I don't know which one...

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...