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Questions tagged [planets]

Celestial body that orbits following an elliptical path around a star or stellar remnant.

0 votes
1 answer
41 views

I have read that stars can form when massive gas clouds collapse because the gravity of the clouds is strong enough to pull their molecules together. The solar system formed from a gas cloud. Did that ...
user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
727 views

The equatorial bulge of a planet is affected by the planet's rotation and the viscoelasticity of the sphere. Venus's rotation period is 244 days with an equatorial bulge of 0%. Earth's and Mars's ...
lunatectonics's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
39 views

How is it possible to verify the roundness of the Earth? How can its size be estimated by physical measurements and no complex scientific instruments?
Sophia's user avatar
  • 11
13 votes
2 answers
3k views

Is it theoretically possible for there to be such a thing as a "gas moon" as opposed to a rocky one? Do any laws or models specifically prohibit the formation of gaseous moons?
H-QM-W's user avatar
  • 301
2 votes
1 answer
133 views

I have come across two seperate formulae for the apparent weight/acceleration due to the Earth's rotation and the centrifugal force caused by it: $g'=g-R\omega^2\sin^2\theta$ $g'=\sqrt{g^2-R^2\sin^2\...
Sambhav Saraswat's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
113 views

I'm not entirely sure if this is the right stack but here goes. I'm trying to design a fictional planet that has less gravity than Earth but I would like to give it an atmosphere as or even more dense ...
BlackCat42's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
1k views

It is claimed that the moon stabilizes the Earth's axial tilt, but Mars and Venus (and Mercury, too) are rocky planets without large moons. Why are their axes stable?
Michael Stachowsky's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
163 views

What is gravitational pressure at a distance x from center or earth. Assume earth to be spherical and with no atmosphere. Assume that earth has uniform density ,R is radius of earth and M is its mass.$...
Charith Reddy's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
125 views

I shortened "atmosphere" to "air" to fit the whole question in the title. The ball is of course launched in a vacuum (i.e. the atmosphere is first removed). Is this question given ...
Vaughan Pratt's user avatar
14 votes
5 answers
4k views

Browsing the density of the planets (and Pluto, Ceres, Sun and Moon) in the solar system, I observe that Earth is the one with the largest mean density: $5494 \ kg/m^3$. Is there a physical reason for ...
coudy's user avatar
  • 257
2 votes
1 answer
98 views

Consider a fast spinning planet with no outer influences (no outer thermal and gravitational influences like a star) Could there be an spontaneous* exchange of angular momentum between the planet's ...
vengaq's user avatar
  • 3,394
0 votes
1 answer
133 views

Can the rotation of a planet alone provoke any kind of wind or liquid current? Can the atmosphere, at least in some cases, have wind currents driven by the planet's rotation? And can liquids also move ...
vengaq's user avatar
  • 3,394
0 votes
0 answers
112 views

Because the earth bulges near the equator the source of Mississippi river, although above sea level is nearer to the centre of earth then its mouth, how can a river flow uphill ? Is it due to high ...
Ali Kalam's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
134 views

Newton’s theory suggests it’s close to zero, but what says GR? Edit 1: It’s obvious that at the center it’s zero for both theories. The curvature explanation of GR could give a different answer around ...
Kozmikaze's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
340 views

A random thought. The picture that I have in my mind is that when two similarly charged bodies (Charges of very large magnitude) are kept closely, they will shoot away from each other and if they ...
Ishant's user avatar
  • 43

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