Space & Astronomy
Exploring "Why" questions about Space & Astronomy
480 articles
Why do people not make a bigger deal about Russian warplanes coming into our airspace?
They're testing our defenses. We do it to them all the time. It's not worth creating an international incident about it.
Why do Star Wars fans love Boba Fett so much?
He barely speaks, his armor is badass, and he is very good at what he does. Mostly because his armor is badass, though.
Why did we ever start counting things in ‘Dozens’? Why not in tens, or something easier to work with?
Base 12 was used in ancient Egypt. You can count to twelve on one hand, using your thumb to move on each finger joint (four fingers, each with three joints). Arguably, base 12 and base 60 make more "s
Why does my chewing gum start to disintegrate if I chew it along with a piece of ice?
This is all just a guess, so I can be completely wrong. Gum is merely rubber-like substance and saliva after you've chewed on it for a bit. The ice is freezing the saliva and/or causing the rubber to
Why can’t modern houses be economically independent with solar + battery+ a little backup generator just incase?
A) You need a large array of solar powers to provide full coverage to the home (large initial cost, requires a lot of surface area, potentially takes away from the visual appeal of the home) B) until
Why haven’t humans visited the moon since 1972?
[This article](_URL_0_) covers it fairly well. The TLDR is that it comes down to budget restrictions, technological restrictions (current rockets aren't powerful enough to reach the Moon), a lack of p
why do we spend trillions of dollars exploring out of space while we have only discovered less then 5% of our ocean
You can do a lot more interesting science in space than at the bottom of the ocean. Also, NASA's spent less than $800 billion, inflation adjusted, over it's entire existence, including aerodynamics an
Why do people deny the moon landing?
Because when you sit back and think about how technologically advance it was, especially for that time, it is truly mind blowing. Even by today's standards just say it to your self "We can send humans
Why do we need to go to Mars?
Because having every human being in existence living on one easily destroyed rock is incredibly short sighted. We need to start moving off of earth if we want to survive and evolve as a species. Plus
Why is every planet spherical?
Planets form spheres because of the gravity emitted by their own mass. In space, any mass in space that exceeds about 6x10^20kg, or about 1/10,000 the mass of Earth, will compress itself into a sphere