Ask An Astronomer Answer Archive
- Is there water on the moon? If so, can the moon be terraformed?
- I have heard that some planets "migrate" in towards their star. How does this work?
- What can you tell me about the planet Pluto? Where can I find pictures and information?
- Will Neptune and Pluto collide one day? Would that affect the Earth? What if things outside the solar system collide?
- I hear that an unknown planet caused perturbations in Neptune's orbit. Is this true?
- How many years will it be before Pluto moves outside the orbit of Neptune?
- When will the moon's perigee point correspond to its new phase?
- When were most of the moon's craters formed, and how big is crater Copernicus?
- I know that the second full moon in a month is called a "blue moon". What is the second new moon in a month called?
- Who is detecting extrasolar planets, and can I get their raw data?
- I read in a magazine that a planet was recently discovered in our solar system. Is that correct? If so, who discovered it?
- Do any of the new extrasolar planets have names?
- Is there a tenth planet in the solar system?
- Are there any pictures of the new extrasolar planets?
- Do you have any information on how Palus Somni formed, its composition, or age?
- Do you believe that Europa has a subsurface ocean? If so, do you believe that it contains life?
- I have heard that we cannot know the masses of the extrasolar planets exactly. If this is the case, how can we be sure that they are planets?
- Who are the people working on discovering extrasolar planets? Do they live near New York? Are there any meetings planned which I could attend?
- Why do transits of Venus across the disk of the Sun happen in pairs?
- How big a telescope would we need to see Earth-like planets around other stars?
- Can you tell me about the magnetic field properties of the solar planets?
- How was Neptune discovered mathematically?
- What did Marcy and Butler discover around Rho Corona Borealis?
- I heard that Planet X had been discovered past Pluto. What can you tell me about this?
- Has the Hubble Telescope looked at Mars? Did they see aliens in the pictures?
- Are there pictures showing how the sun moves in response to the gravitational pull of the planets?
- Do other planets have blue skies?
- Where do the symbols for the planets come from?
- When did Pluto become the most distant planet again?
- What is the Earth made of? Is it the only planet with life?
- What will happen to the Earth when the planets align in May, 2000?
- When did Pluto become the most distant planet in the Solar System again?
- How can we talk about other solar systems, if the term "solar" refers only to our sun?
- What does an astronomer do? What planets have been explored?
- How faint would my telescope have to see in order to see moons around other planets?
- When was the last time that the planets were in a line?
- Were planets supposedly discovered a long time ago by the "wobble" of a parent star ever shown to be real?
- I thought I saw phases on Mars and Jupiter. Is this possible?
- Can a conjunction of the planets cause problems for the Earth?
- Does a planet's albedo affect its temperature?
- Do you have information on Europa?
- Will the planetary alignment on May 5 endanger the Earth?
- How strong is Pluto's Gravity?
- Can a planet collide with another planet?
- Is there a quantum law of planetary orbits?
- What do we know about Martian weather?
- How does a planetary system form?
- Is there evidence for a 12th planet in the solar system?
- How large would the sun appear to be from the other planets?
- Planets move on ellipses with the sun at one focus. What is at the other focus of the ellipse?