Space & Astronomy
Exploring "Why" questions about Space & Astronomy
479 articles
Why is pink a girlish colour? When and how did this association start?
Pink was a boys colour back in the 18th/19th century, and blue for girls. It's entirely a fashion thing, led by advertising and the media.
Why can’t the NFL broadcast it’s games online separately from cable and satellite much like HBO and SHOWTIME did?
It probably can... assuming their deals with the networks and cable/satellite TV companies do not prohibit them from doing so. However, the question is not whether they can, which they can surely figu
Why are the planets named after Roman Pagan gods?
The planets out as far as Saturn can be seen without a telescope. The Romans had names for them, and our civilization kept using those names even after the Romans were gone. Uranus and Neptune got the
Why can my eyes smoothly follow an object in motion, but when there is no object to follow (like staring at a wall), my eyes skip focus from point to point?
We have evolved a specific tracking system for our eyes, [smooth pursuit](_URL_0_) for tracking moving objects. A component of smooth pursuit is feedback from the optical system to the brain, to allow
Why can I smell rain before it actually starts to rain?
You were probably smelling ozone. Oxygen is normally two atoms of oxygen linked together. Ozone is three atoms of oxygen linked together.
why is it that I wake up in the morning starving after eating a full meal before going to bed at night
There is a certain resting energy that our body uses, even if we sleep, to maintain our body's metabolism. Over the 8 hours or so that you sleep, you digest all the food and use it as the resting ener
Why aren’t leaves the same color as solar panels?
Of course chlorophyll is the obvious answer, because it reflects green light rather than absorbing it. But the next question is "why isn't chlorophyll black?" Some say it's because the plants would ab
Why do plastic water bottles start to smell bad when left for a prolonged period after being opened?
2 Main things: 1 standing water breeds bacteria, so water left to sit will get nasty no matter what it is in. 2. cheap plastic bottles will leach plastic into them over time (and quicker if its warm).
Why don’t we put solar panels on wind turbines?
Some panels are placed on the supporting structures but placing them on curved surfaces isn't that easy. Placing them on the blades isn't practical for a whole host of reasons.