Questions tagged [astronomy]
For challenges about objects and processes or physics and chemistry of such kind that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth.
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Plot the ground path of a satellite
If you model a satellite as a free point orbiting a body, you can pretty easily see it has 6 degrees of freedom: three for the X, Y, and Z position, and three for the X, Y, and Z velocity. However, ...
- 1,053
27
votes
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answers
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How long till Halley's Comet returns?
Halley's Comet is the only comet that may appear (i.e. become visible to the naked eye on Earth) twice in a human lifetime. The orbital period of Halley's Comet is not constant: it has varied between ...
- 11.2k
14
votes
6
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Parse a variable star designation
The variable star designation is an identifier for a variable star (a star that fluctuates in brightness). It consists of either a 1-2 letter code or (when the letter code is no longer sufficient) a '...
- 243
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How far is the Sun?
Introduction
tl;dr
Continuously output the current distance from the Earth to the Sun.
Simplified, the orbit of the Earth around the Sun is an ellipse. So the actual distance between both is ...
- 4,749
10
votes
1
answer
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Calculate the Lunar Phase
Introduction
tl;dr
In this challenge you have to calculate the moon's phase for a given date.
This challenge is inspired by the game psycho social audiovisual experiment "Superbrothers: Sword & ...
- 4,749