https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/16hnsw7/ask_anything_wednesday_physics_astronomy_earth/
created by AutoModerator on 13/09/2023 at 14:00 UTC
222 upvotes, 50 top-level comments (showing 25)
Welcome to our weekly feature, Ask Anything Wednesday - this week we are focusing on **Physics, Astronomy, Earth and Planetary Science**
Do you have a question within these topics you weren't sure was worth submitting? Is something a bit too speculative for a typical /r/AskScience post? No question is too big or small for AAW. In this thread you can ask any science-related question! Things like: "What would happen if...", "How will the future...", "If all the rules for 'X' were different...", "Why does my...".
Please post your question as a top-level response to this, and our team of panellists will be here to answer and discuss your questions. The other topic areas will appear in future Ask Anything Wednesdays, so if you have other questions not covered by this weeks theme please either hold on to it until those topics come around, or go and post over in our sister subreddit /r/AskScienceDiscussion , where every day is Ask Anything Wednesday! Off-theme questions in this post will be removed to try and keep the thread a manageable size for both our readers and panellists.
Please only answer a posted question if you are an expert in the field. The full guidelines for posting responses in AskScience can be found here[1]. In short, this is a moderated subreddit, and responses which do not meet our quality guidelines will be removed. Remember, peer reviewed sources are always appreciated, and anecdotes are absolutely not appropriate. In general if your answer begins with 'I think', or 'I've heard', then it's not suitable for /r/AskScience.
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Past AskAnythingWednesday posts can be found here[3]. Ask away!
Comment by Poopiepants666 at 13/09/2023 at 15:36 UTC
14 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Is there a reason or theory as to why Earth, Mars, Saturn, and Neptune all have a very similar axial tilt (23°-28°) or is it just a coincidence?
Comment by wildfire405 at 13/09/2023 at 16:01 UTC
11 upvotes, 3 direct replies
I know a lot of the imagery we get of distant planets, nebulae and galaxies are heightened images, exposed over hours and days, taken in infrared or other wavelengths of invisible light.
Is there a resource or examples of completely 'raw' images in the form of what these things would look like if we were at an optimal distance looking out of a spacecraft porthole?
For instance, as dim as the sun is way out at Pluto, I doubt it would appear as bright as those famous heart photos make it appear.
And I'm willing to bet those cloudy star factories only appear that dense because we are so far away--that if we could get close enough to see them filling the cupola of the ISS, that it probably wouldn't be visible at all.
Comment by TTTA at 13/09/2023 at 15:33 UTC
5 upvotes, 2 direct replies
Is there any kind of consensus on how early land was colonized by microbes and turned into a healthy soil that could sustain plant life?
Comment by logperf at 13/09/2023 at 15:19 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I heard from a tour guide that sea water temperature at the beach gets warm if the previous day the wind has been blowing from the sea into the land, and cold if it's been blowing in the opposite direction. He even recommended checking windy.com[1] to see the expected wind direction.
Is there any scientific truth behind this?
If I remember correctly from high school sea water temperature is quite constant, making coastal cities have a stable climate. So I'm skeptic of what this tour guide said, if it can keep the warmth of summer until the winter, why should it cool down significantly after just a day of wind?
Comment by csprofathogwarts at 13/09/2023 at 15:30 UTC
3 upvotes, 2 direct replies
What is the earliest age of the universe at which a black hole can theoretically be formed?
Comment by skawid at 13/09/2023 at 20:46 UTC
3 upvotes, 2 direct replies
How does refraction work? My current understanding is: one end of the lightwave hits a different medium and slows first. This turns the "front" of the wave towards the slow side.
But light is photons right? How does the photon at the far end of the line know the first one has slowed down?
Comment by IscahRambles at 14/09/2023 at 03:04 UTC
3 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Can a volcano form inside a cave, if rising magma came in contact with an existing limestone cave system or similar?
Comment by KnightOfWords at 14/09/2023 at 06:54 UTC
3 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Something I've been wondering about is the Tycho impact on the Moon. This happened in the age of the dinosaurs but they were terribly lax in their record keeping.
How bright would have been Earth? How long would it have taken to cool and for how long would it have visibly glowed? Would debris have kicked off global meteor showers on Earth? Would some of the ejecta been large enough to punch through our atmosphere and cause real damage?
Comment by Wavster at 13/09/2023 at 17:22 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
How „big“ ist a singularity? How can some black holes have more mass than others and still have all that mass in a single point?
Comment by pargofan at 13/09/2023 at 18:22 UTC
2 upvotes, 2 direct replies
If a rocketship ignites in the middle of deep space and heads where there's no planets or stars nearby, what halts its acceleration?
Even when the thrusters stop, why doesn't it keep accelerating if there's no "air" or gravity to stop it?
Comment by XenMonkey at 13/09/2023 at 18:23 UTC
2 upvotes, 2 direct replies
How and why do black holes lose mass? From what I understand (and please correct if/when I'm wrong!), Hawking Radiation is the mechanism via which black holes lose mass, but Hawking radiation is caused when one the the 2 particles that pops into being gets sucked into the black hole and the other escapes? If that's the case then how does it actually cause the mass to decrease as to me it would seem logical for anything entering a black hole would increase the mass?
Comment by DiscoLaPassione at 13/09/2023 at 21:32 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Is there a time in Earth's history that is pre plate tectonics? Or maybe a better question is... Was Earth a planet before plate tectonics?
Comment by lowaltflier at 13/09/2023 at 17:35 UTC
4 upvotes, 1 direct replies
On vacation in Peru, I learned that the moon was opposite of how we see it in the north. If I were on the equator, would the moon “flip” when the earth changes its angle throughout the year?
Comment by AverageDoonst at 13/09/2023 at 14:55 UTC
1 upvotes, 4 direct replies
Does our planet gain mass? With an almost constant energy flowing from the Sun and billions of species of flora growing every day can we say that Earth is gaining mass through its biosphere?
Comment by [deleted] at 13/09/2023 at 15:00 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
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Comment by csprofathogwarts at 13/09/2023 at 15:25 UTC*
1 upvotes, 3 direct replies
Wiki says that accretion discs of supermassive blackholes "can convert between 5.7% and 32% of the mass of an object into energy".
What is the mechanism for this mass to energy conversion?
Comment by amorphoussoupcake at 13/09/2023 at 15:47 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Is there a video showing the math of what happens with gravity when mass increases to the point the mass becomes a black hole
Comment by YouNeedAnne at 13/09/2023 at 17:26 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Is there a way I can see what a 2d map of the Earth would look like if the poles were in different places?
Like, what if Loughborough was at the top?
Comment by [deleted] at 13/09/2023 at 14:38 UTC
-1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
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Comment by playadefaro at 13/09/2023 at 17:50 UTC
0 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Why is Dallas more humid than Phoenix though Phoenix is closer to ocean than Dallas and both are roughly on the same latitude? What all factors determine humidity?
Comment by Asleep_Sentence_5586 at 14/09/2023 at 08:46 UTC
0 upvotes, 1 direct replies
In your opinion, would you say it's more believable that our character traits are more based on seasons or the alignment of stars?
Comment by [deleted] at 13/09/2023 at 15:33 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
[deleted]
Comment by Nicholia2931 at 13/09/2023 at 16:39 UTC
1 upvotes, 2 direct replies
So like if we could graft leaves onto humans would our bodies be able to process the glucose from photosynthesis?
Comment by No_Improvement0000 at 13/09/2023 at 17:39 UTC
1 upvotes, 2 direct replies
If things in space are falling, where are they falling towards and why are they falling in different directions?
Comment by [deleted] at 13/09/2023 at 17:44 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
[removed]