Space & Astronomy
Exploring "Why" questions about Space & Astronomy
480 articles
Why is it easier to get a fire started if the material being burned is already hot (or even still an ember)?
Combustion requires a certain amount of energy to get going, and from there the fire continues to perpetuate itself so long as you feed it fuel. That energy shows up as heat. You need to get whatever
Why is Pluto no longer considered a planet.
Astronomers began to look more closely at Pluto's area of the solar system about a decade ago. What they discovered is that there are other objects within the vicinity of Pluto's orbit that are the sa
Why is it necessary to send a telescope into space???
There have been huge improvements made in ground based telescopes. But these compensations only go so far. A telescope in space does not need them so it can be made specifically to be good in space.
Why do cars not have fail-safes that prevent the battery draining to a point where the car won’t start?
A lot of newer cars do. On my 2002 Toyota, if you turn the car off with the headlights on, the headlights go off, too. Unfortunately, the dome light and interior door lights will still drain the batte
Why aren’t spacecrafts constantly missing their marks when planets like Mars are basically infinitesimally small, moving targets that are speeding through outer space?
Because the orbits of planets are observed for a long period of time, their future position is really well predictable. With a lot of math, a high precision at launch of the spacecraft and well planed
Why don’t we cover the Sahara desert in solar panels to power the earth?
Because the Sahara desert isn't where we need the electricity. Solar panels require a lot of space per watt, and then transferring that energy to someplace that will pay for it causes lots of energy l
Why do you need a NASA lens to record candle lit scenes on film, yet the human eye is as small as a mobile phone camera and can see low lit scenes just fine?
Our brain is incredibly powerful and can 'compute' the dynamic range and the white balance of everything we see. Even the the most expensive sensors on the best cameras available today can't recreate
Why can we no longer afford to send manned expeditions to the moon?
It has already been done, so it's not as impressive any more, the public won't care much so budget restraints will hurt. Also, there is no reason to invest all the funds in going to the moon atm since
Why do all the radio and TV stations 4-letter acronyms start with K? Ex: KQAK, KOIN, KLAD, etc.
Radio and television stations west of the Mississippi start with K. Those east of the river start with W. It is a system devised by the FCC to identify stations.
Why we haven’t returned to the Moon
Its really really really **really** expensive to go to the moon and there is not really much reason to go back. The US has also slashed NASA's budget to spend the money elsewhere, so NASA really could