All Questions
367
questions
2
votes
1
answer
24
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Towards defining the tags "electromagnetic-spectrum" and "wavelength"
I have yet another question about tags, this time it is about electromagnetic-spectrum (with 7 questions as of February 18th, 2021) and wavelength (with 23 questions). The tags are different on ...
- 5,526
2
votes
0
answers
14
views
High-energy-astrophysics vs. particles and other tags in the same field
This a follow-up discussion to high-energy-astrophysics tag usage guideline, could this be improved?
There are currently (February 17th, 2021) only 9 questions tagged particles, compared 22 questions ...
- 5,526
2
votes
0
answers
13
views
high-energy-astrophysics tag usage guideline, could this be improved?
There is a proposed edit to provide users with the following guideline when choosing the high-energy-astrophysics tag. This is the message that would pop up when someone started typing "high-ener....
- 31.4k
2
votes
1
answer
15
views
What distinguishes the "nomenclature" from "definition"?
Can nomenclature and definition be regareded as synonyms?
Right now (February 16th, 2021), there are only 2 records tagged as nomenclature, and only 4 with tag definition. This is not many, I agree, ...
- 5,526
5
votes
0
answers
39
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Tag usage guidelines are being copy/pasted with WIkipedia definitions insensitive to astronomical context and unhelpful when needed most
There have been several tag Wiki and Wiki excerpt edits in the last half-day that appear to be copy/pasted from Wikipedia without regard to the astronomical context of the terms.
I've voted to reject ...
- 31.4k
3
votes
1
answer
50
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Synonym suggestion for [tag:tides]
Currently (as of February 12, 2021), the yet undefined tag tides has only 27 occurences, which compares to the tag tidal-forces with 78 occurences. I suggest, that make tides a synonym of tidal-forces ...
- 5,526
4
votes
1
answer
29
views
How to proceed with tags with only a single occurence?
What is the correct way of treating rare tags, say with a single occurence? I just figured out that tags without any occurrence are most likely synonyms (which is not obvious from the tag-overview ...
- 5,526
2
votes
1
answer
23
views
Is the tag "measurement" a synonym of "observational-astronomy"?
I came across the rather rare (8 occurrences as of February 12, 2021) and yet undefined tag measurement which seems to be a synonym for the ubiquitous (728 times used) tag observational-astronomy.
Do ...
- 5,526
3
votes
1
answer
40
views
What's the point of the tag "laws-of-physics"?
As mentioned previously, whenever I have time, I am trying to add descriptions to tags which are yet undefined. I came across the laws-of-physics tag which is ...
- 5,526
5
votes
2
answers
71
views
Tags "planetary-atmosphere" vs. "atmosphere"?
While looking for tags without any definition (in order to suggest one), I came across the tag planetary-atmosphere vs. ...
- 5,526
1
vote
1
answer
23
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Tag synonym suggestion for planetary-science
I do not quite understand why we need the tag planetary-science since we have planet as widely used tag. To be quantitative: It is 37 agains 607 (as of February 11, 2021).
If we could all agree on ...
- 5,526
3
votes
0
answers
163
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How to attract real-world radio telescopists to radio astronomy observational techniques questions?
Here are ten questions about observational radio astronomy that are either unanswered (eight) or have no accepted answer (two). These are selected from my own questions only so far, there may be ...
- 31.4k
7
votes
1
answer
52
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Should we link to the PDF or to the abstract or source page for scholarly references? Does it matter which?
We strongly discourage link-only answers for several reasons, one of which is that if/when the link breaks or rots the answer becomes useless and future readers are left with a non-answer.
In this ...
- 31.4k
3
votes
2
answers
48
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Is a charged-coupled-devices tag okay? If so, what would be good usage guidance for it?
I've just added the new tag charge-coupled-devices to How often are electron-multiplying CCDs used in telescope focal planes? Will Nancy Grace Roman be the first use in a space telescope? since that's ...
- 31.4k
12
votes
7
answers
1k
views
Why do we care if Pluto is classified as a planet? [closed]
Why do we care if Pluto is classified as a planet? Classification doesn't change anything fundamental about Pluto, like the orbital parameters or composition. We can't hurt an inanimate object's ...
- 16.2k
7
votes
0
answers
48
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2020: a year in moderation
As we say goodbye to the old year and welcome the new one, we have a tradition of sharing moderation stats for the past 12 months.
As most of you here are aware, sites on the Stack Exchange network ...
- 101
2
votes
1
answer
49
views
Is it possible to recover the text from my polarization-dependent apodization question about CHIME?
Canada's CHIME radio telescope is a unique design which is discussed at some length in this answer. I a comment below the question there I link to a question (presumably of mine) titled How does ...
- 31.4k
14
votes
1
answer
157
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Can we make arguments that Pluto should be considered a planet off-topic?
It has been over 14 years since the IAU passed its definition of what constitutes a planet, and we still get arguments (mostly rants) against that decision. For example, Where to submit, or ask to ...
- 33.5k
3
votes
0
answers
25
views
Tag definitions for solar-flare and solar-storm?
The solar-storm tag has 8 questions and no usage guidance.
The solar-flare tag has 32 questions and the following guidance:
Questions regarding a sudden brightness increase due to the release of ...
- 31.4k
-2
votes
4
answers
174
views
Cavalier insta-closing of a new user's first question without even giving them a chance to respond?
A new user, just joined today, asked their first question.
When this happens I think of "be welcoming" before I think of "what can I close today?"
After only a few hours close as ...
- 31.4k
1
vote
0
answers
28
views
What do folks think about adding (time-) dispersion and time-domain tags?
For Do ASKAP and ALMA have "fast dump" interferometric modes? Can they see and perhaps report Fast Radio Bursts in real time? I've created two new tags: [tag:] and [tag:].
Before I start ...
- 31.4k
12
votes
7
answers
403
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Post your pictures of the Great Conjunction here!
today and tomorrow are the times when Jupiter and Saturn are really close to each other (less than a tenth of a degree apart)!!! So I just want to reach out to everyone for them to share their photos ...
- 6,613
1
vote
0
answers
25
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How to use the tags specific-tag and tagging tags here in meta? Do we need all of them?
I've tagged I think that we have no good tags for solar-system-evolution or asteroid-formation or asteroid-evolution. Should we? with tags, specific-tag and tagging because I don't know which ones to ...
- 31.4k
6
votes
2
answers
97
views
I think that we have no good tags for solar-system-evolution or asteroid-formation or asteroid-evolution. Should we?
The questions
What is the YORP effect exactly? Is it just the non-central component of the Yarkovsky effect?
Where have all the Vulcanoids gone?
(and there are likely other examples) that ask about ...
- 31.4k
0
votes
1
answer
30
views
Should the wording on the 'close vote' window dialogue be changed?
If a question on Astronomy Stack Exchange is off-topic and we vote to close, we get this window:
Then, if we click on "A community-specific reason" we get this window:
This kind of implies ...
- 16.2k
4
votes
2
answers
102
views
Shall we continue to agree that good SETI and extraterrestrial questions are on-topic? What about METI?
We currently have 19 questions tagged with seti One was recently closed and one has two close votes, and extra-terrestrial has 35 questions.
Going through these it seems that some good SETI and ...
- 31.4k
6
votes
1
answer
79
views
When is the next Moderator Election?
Okay, so our newest moderator (HDE 226868) was appointed in 2018. So I am wondering, when will our next moderator election occur?
- 6,613
18
votes
0
answers
127
views
Congratulations Astronomy Stack Exchange for 10k questions!
I just checked the question count, and discovered that we hit 10k overnight (well actually a few hours after 0:00 UTC) :D
So I just want to say congratulations to everyone here, the moderators, all ...
- 6,613
3
votes
0
answers
40
views
Should the tags stellar-classification and spectral-type be merged?
We have two tags, spectral-type and stellar-classification. The former appears to be slightly more popular, and the latter appears to have been mostly used on questions about spectral types?
Do we ...
user24157
10
votes
1
answer
105
views
Etiquette for using comments to answer old, unanswered questions?
I like answering old, unanswered questions because there aren't many new ones I know enough to answer. In many cases the answers are mostly laid out in the comments. I suspect no one then wants to ...
- 16.2k
2
votes
1
answer
65
views
How could I use siunitx package in the form?
When using the SI unit in the sinunitx package on the astronomy StackExchange page, it cannot display the correct unit I was hoping for:
$1\mathrm{kg}$ instead of $\SI{1}{kg}$
- 1,296
3
votes
1
answer
69
views
Are "vague" edit comments acceptable?
Often, I edit questions, and put a simple comment into the edit box, like "minor edit" or "major changes" and what not. Is this too vague and needs to be more specific, or is it ...
- 6,613
6
votes
2
answers
105
views
Request to use image
I recently retired from teaching Middle School and High School Science for 37 years in Texas. I am now writing a book series called "The Science Sleuths." Book #5 is called "Adventures ...
12
votes
2
answers
385
views
Let's make an attempt to answer old, unanswered questions
I have been looking at the unanswered questions on this site for some time (for some days tbh) and in my opinion, most of them are very intriguing and interesting and they deserved to get answered. ...
- 4,393
2
votes
2
answers
53
views
Why are other questions about messages to aliens on-topic but this one isn't? Was answer-blocking premature in this case?
These seem to be accepted by the community
Who or what will the Arecibo message reach? +6, 1 answer
Is broadcasting the location of Earth to potential extraterrestial civilization regulated? +5, 1 ...
- 31.4k
3
votes
1
answer
48
views
Do we need separate tags for [habitable-zone] and [goldilocks-zone]?
We have separate tags for habitable-zone and goldilocks-zone — does it make sense to keep both of these?
Of the two, habitable-zone appears to be used more frequently, although its tag wiki entry does ...
user24157
4
votes
1
answer
157
views
Etiquette for user-created external resource links in posts
I've just discovered that one of our old users (barrycarter, now "user21"), who is no longer with us, used a personal, unlicensed github repository in 31 of his posts: https://data....
- 6,254
3
votes
1
answer
49
views
Are questions about equipment instructions on-topic here?
I have bought an amateur telescope recently.
Can I ask other members detailed questions like "How can I work with my telescope?" or "How do I set my telescope on a specific celestial ...
- 985
1
vote
1
answer
59
views
Do we need both ephemeris and ephemerides tags?
I just noticed that we we have both ephemeris (35 questions) and ephemerides (6 questions) tags.
I can't see how the six questions that have ephemerides need it, and I'm guessing that ephemeris is all ...
- 31.4k
0
votes
2
answers
29
views
I need help rewording this unwieldily title
The current title is former title was How error bars on recent speed of gravity determination from gravitational waves and coincident gamma ray burst? Was Hubble constant in there? and it is explained ...
- 31.4k
4
votes
2
answers
182
views
When should [early-universe] end?
Do we want it to be equal to the definition at Wikipedia, i.e. ending with cmb?
Currently we have questions like these:
Will James Webb see Population III stars?
Characteristics of the first planets ...
- 149
2
votes
1
answer
41
views
Questions pertaining to ongoing competitions
As part of the International Astronomy and Astrophysics Competition, the pre final round question sheet has been released. Should questions regarding answers to the paper be closed, or at least have ...
- 999
6
votes
1
answer
256
views
Is [space-travel] on topic here?
Is space-travel on topic for the site? To me it looks like a big red flag that the question actually belongs on Space Exploration, or in the more hypothetical cases Worldbuilding.
Looking at the ...
user24157
1
vote
1
answer
41
views
Should the "naming" and "nomenclature" tags be merged?
We have both naming and nomenclature - does it make sense to have these as separate tags, or should we merge them? If so, which one would be preferred?
user24157
3
votes
1
answer
84
views
Is "solve this n-body system for me" on topic here?
Are worldbuilding-style questions which boil down to "is this n-body system I've invented stable" on-topic for this site?
As examples I am talking about things like
Is this a potential planetary ...
user24157
4
votes
2
answers
63
views
Should we update definitions and remove the 100 GHz hard limits on radio astronomy related tags?
I just noticed that some of the following tag definitions include upper limits on frequency:
radio: Questions about the part of the electromagnetic spectrum between 10 MHz and 100 GHz.
radio-...
- 31.4k
5
votes
1
answer
88
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Science stack exchanges helping other science stack exchanges!
The Physics Meta promotes support for all Science sites on Stack Exchange, in this post. The same meta post is now on several other science SE Meta sites.
The Astronomy SE is one of the sites that has ...
- 103
2
votes
1
answer
32
views
Should this question be reopened or a new and improved version of the question posted?
The question Do stars come on like LEDs or wick lamps? was closed as duplicate of Timescale of ignition of a protostar?.
A comment says
Actually, it's not the same question, because this question ...
- 31.4k
6
votes
1
answer
94
views
Is astrobiology on topic here?
A question that occurred to me in regards to the off-topic closure of this question about Martian tetanus, are questions about astrobiology on topic here?
The parts of the question about human ...
user24157
4
votes
3
answers
148
views
A modest proposal to increase question quality
Highly related: What can we do about the deteriorating quality of questions?
This related question was asked over five years ago, and the situation has not improved. My perception is the opposite: A ...
- 33.5k