Astronomy and Cosmology

first off sorry about the spelling. secondly i have been wanting to purchase or build a telescope, my son is getting old enough to enjoy looking through one, im not into space photography to much. i like it an all but it is just too expensive so i would like to hear your opinions. me i personally want a dobsonian becuase i like to view deep space entities. and because a 12" schmiddt is like 8-14k $$$ but without price in mind let me know what you think

When there is a magnetic field caused from two forces acting apon each so you would think that there is a physical object there but no visable object exists just the silhouette of gravity and its magnetic fields and forces if you can understand what Im trying to say

When the sun burns out approx 5B years time can any of the solar system planets survive? or will they all go with the sun?....us.2u

Hi, ...was just pondering the endlife of a neutron star.... presuming they rapidly rotate, and that they will absorb ISM and emit radiation, what happens in the long term with these stars? Do they evaporate or grow due to ISM dust collection? I also wondered whether or not the absorption of a photon onto a neutron would/could change it into a proton, and if so, what energy photon would do that? You'd think I'd have better things to think about, n'est pas?

I personaly belive that the big bang is true, but i am curous as to weather it is absolutely proven (as far as science goes) or is it still a widely suported therory, if its a theory then what are other theories that are scientificaly suported. Same question for the big crunch.

I think i remember a while ago reading or someone telling me that the edge of the universe is only as big as where all the expanding mass has reached. When the big bang happened (if it did happen) then wouldn't the edge of the universe not be where the mass has reached, but be further, because the light (which would be travelling faster then the mass from the big bang, because nothing travels at light speed or faster) would have reached further than the mass which was exploded from the big bang. any ideas on this?

There has been a lot of talk about Planet X. What's all of the fuss about anyway? I read that a new planet was discovered in our solar system. Is this true? This would be different from Planet X, right. In one place, I read X was Mars, in another it said it was a new planet. What gives?

Hey everyone! I have heard from someone that there are seven skys and I am not sure about that... What does science say about that? Are there really seven skys?? ..

There is a Navy destroyer, at sea, 10 nautical miles offshore from the florida keys, parallel to the equator. They are trying to locate the intelsat 803 satellite. Does anyone know how to tell them what their azimuth and elevation needs to be in order to locate it. Does anyone know how to construct a formula for az and el? Thank you

Assuming everything was formed by Natural causes.Do you believe Scientists will ever find the definite answer to the begining and end of all things in say the next 1000 years,given that technology and knowledge has moved on so much over the last century?

Astronomical orientation of any monument At this site, they say if you enter the azimuth, latitude, longitude, that the software can give you information about what stars (if any) were used to align the monument. Has anyone here used this software, or software like it before? Thanks

I am just beginning to try and understand things like solar day, sidereal day, apsides, aphelion, perihelion, vernal equinox, autumn equinox, winter solstice, summer solstice, celestial sphere, and a host of other terms associated with basic astronomy. In particular, right now I am trying to understand "celestial meridian." They spoke about zenith, and nadir. But none of the sites I went to was clear on these terms. Suppose that you are located somewhere on the equator. Send a line through your location and the center of the earth. Is it necessarily true that where the line meets the celestial sphere above you, "zenith" and where the line below you "nadir" …

Does anyone know if there a way to find out the current distance between the earth, and the sun in real time, using an online resource? I need to know the distance between the earth and sun now. Regards

I wanna know, what will be the effect of magnetic pole reversal, on earth?

My biology class is working on a project where we have to write a paper on how scientists know the stuff they do about our topic. I choose Black Holes as my topic, and I now need a bit of help. The points I have to address in my paper are: 1) a brief summary of what a black hole is, 2) some important names that are connected to black hole research, 3) how do they find black holes, and 4) how do they know about the parts of a black hole (ex. the event horizon, the apparent horizon, ect.). I already have plenty of information on the first point, but I could use some help with the last 3. If you could also include the source from which you receved the information,…

Can the sun change its polarity?

I am trying to understand exactly how the earth moves around the sun. Specifically, I need to be aware of any anomalies in the earth's orbit over the past 6000 years or so. I want to get an intuitive feel for just how much the positions of the other planets actually influence earths orbit. Copernicus supposedly went against Ptolemy's teachings in the 1500s by speculating that the earth, and other planets went around the sun. I don't really trust history, but at least you get a general feel for things. Copernicus` book was umm, On the revolutions of the celestial spheres... I think, and Ptolemy's book was Amalgest. But, and someone please correct me…

Does anyone know why the antarctic circle and the arctic circle are at 66.5S and 66.5 N respectively? Thank you

My dad turned around and said that mars was the first of the external planets. i though it was the last of the internal but i'm not sure.

I'm asking: does life exist on other planet/s?. My thought is that life exist on other planet/s, and intelligent, the Universe is too great to have us as unique living beings

I am interested in learning how to read star charts, and in familiarizing myself with at least some of the various constellations. Does anyone here know how I can use the internet properly, in order to accomplish this? Thank you

Suppose that you are located at 29 degrees 58 minues 24 seconds North latitude, and 31 degrees 7 minutes 45 seconds East longitude And you have a compass in your hand, and its pointing north. If you look directly at the North star from that position, at 8:00 PM in the evening, what angle will you have to tilt your head back to see it?

The Hubble observatory may be on its last legs, according to space.com.

I have heard many times that there are more Stars than there are grains of sand on every beach on the Earth. Can we take that further and say there are more Stars than there are Atoms that create the Earth?

What is the universal velocity of the solar system? Do we have exact values for galactic velocity and galactic spin at the position of the solar system, and from this what would be the mean velocity for the solar system? Signed SpaceTime