Follow the reluctant adventures in the life of a Welsh astrophysicist sent around the world for some reason, wherein I photograph potatoes and destroy galaxies in the name of science. And don't forget about my website, www.rhysy.net



Thursday 12 July 2018

Ask An Astronomer Anything At All About Astronomy (XLVII)

Catching up on a remaining bunch of questions. As always, click the links for full answers, and if you want even more, have a browse through the enormous Q&A main page. Current grand total : 436 !


1) How hot does a pole get moving at mach 1 through the atmosphere ?
Ah, should I make an innuendo or a casually racist joke, or both ? SO HARD TO CHOOSE !

2) Are eyepieces overrated ?
Yeah they suck.

3) To stop the xenomorph infestation, should we nuke the ISS from the ground or from orbit ?
From the ground, because we don't have any nukes in orbit.

4) Are there really only four planets in the Solar System ?
No.

5) You're lying about the size of Betelgeuse.
No I'm not.

6) What do you think of detecting belts of exoplanetary satellites to find aliens ?
Nah.

REVERSE Q&A IN WHICH SOMEONE ELSE ANSWERS SOMEONE ELSES' QUESTION !
7) Did you predict the battle of Callisto from the Expanse ?
Well I predicted a battle...

8) Could you make a colonial spaceship smaller using frozen genetic material instead of a living crew ?
Yes you could.

9)  Do you have to time everything just right to dock with a rotating space station ?
Yes, but it's not that bad.

10) Is the radial acceleration a good method to choose between the standard model and modified gravity theories ?
No it sucks.

11) What do you think of this paper on missing matter ?
It's OK. 7/10.

12) How much stuff has been found by microlensing ?
Not much.

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