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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27 votes
16 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 ...
Dingus's user avatar
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14 votes
6 answers
629 views

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 '...
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20 votes
10 answers
983 views

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 ...
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10 votes
1 answer
2k views

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 & ...
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