Space & Astronomy
Exploring "Why" questions about Space & Astronomy
480 articles
Why do people think Yellowstone will explode and destroy the earth, but not worry about Hawaii’s volcano eruption?
Imagine you're filling water balloons. One of them has a hole that lets out the water about as fast as you are filling it. You could stand there all day and be fine.
Why do we sometimes blank out and stare off into space?
Because you are focusing your mental resources on whatever you are thinking about and not actively processing your surroundings.
Why Nuking a asteroid that is headed for Earth is not a good strategy.
Nuking an asteroid would be like taping an M80 to a boulder. Some postgraduate students from Leicester University did the math on the asteroid used in Armageddon (awful movie) it would take 800,000,00
Why does a cone form in the start up of a space shuttle engine? (Pic in description)
Shock diamonds _URL_0_ Supersonic(faster than the speed of sound) exhaust causes them to form. They can also be seen on supersonic jet engine exhaust plumes.
Why have they not started issuing social security cards in plastic form like the DMV does with drivers licenses?
Oh god somebody please answer this. I never understood using that damn piece of paper as an item for your I-9 verification. It looks like something a half baked forger can copy.
Why are the bellies of starving children always heavily swollen?
It's a disease called Kwashiorkor, which is caused by a deficiency in protein intake. Sufferers are getting enough calories, but usually almost entirely in the form of carbohydrates. _URL_0_
Why are there so few / only low quality pictures of Uranus and Neptune?
Nice pictures require putting a nice camera very close to the thing with the ability to send the image back. Uranus and Neptune have only had one mission each, Voyager 2 launched in 1977 and the pictu
Why are houses in older communities so spaced out in age, compared to newer neighborhoods?(US)
Most neighborhoods built after the 1950s, ie subdivisions in the suburbs, are built all at once. Meaning they will all be built within a year of each other and use 1-5 building plans. Homes built in c
Why are solar panels so much more efficient than they were 10 years ago?
They're not *much* better, they're just cheaper so people can buy more of them and they pay for themselves more quickly. For context, commercially available solar panel efficiency is hovering around 2
Why did GTA V leak almost instantly after shipping to the stores started and why doesn’t it happen with other games?
GTA V was quite the slow leak. Things leak as soon as humanly possible and GTA V is getting attention because its GTA, not because it leaked.