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The proposed description of this site is quite weak and doesn't provide any real direction. Personally, I think amateurs (and their equipment) have to be explicitly included, because astronomy, perhaps more than any other science, relies on amateurs for observational data and other input. A great example is the list of observatories, many amateur, maintained by the IAU Minor Planet Center at cfa.harvard.edu/iau/lists/ObsCodesF.html - mine is code J58. While amateur astronomers represent a wide spectrum of interests, the top end certainly overlaps the professional arena. – Tim Long May 27 '10 at 15:36

I think the question of whether spaceflight and space exploration are on- or off-topic needs to be explicitly incorporated into the charter. The overlap between "people interested in astronomy" and "people interested in spaceflight" is very large, but not necessarily 100%. – Larry OBrien May 29 '10 at 18:37

There may be three populations of questions here, Professional Astronomy and Astrophysics, Practical Amateur Astronomy and Space Flight and Exploration. – Chris Rowland May 31 '10 at 7:37

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188 Example Questions (10 closed)

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added by juanformoso May 27 '10 at 12:41

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added by juanformoso May 27 '10 at 12:44

	Possible answers: When observing a system with two stars, you can tell which is moving toward you and which away by analyzing how the frequencies change in the light they emit – juanformoso May 27 '10 at 12:45
	another reason why astronomy and physics SE's should be linked – Tobias Kienzler May 28 '10 at 6:00

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added by dagorym May 27 '10 at 13:35

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added by dagorym May 27 '10 at 13:36

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added by juanformoso May 28 '10 at 3:01

INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER. (multivax.com/last_question.html) – juanformoso May 28 '10 at 3:01

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added by Good Person, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Jun 3 '10 at 8:58

This is on-topic, but is somewhat subjective. – Arlen Beiler May 28 '10 at 14:47

Subjective?! How so? – ire_and_curses Jun 4 '10 at 23:03

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added by Tobias Kienzler May 28 '10 at 7:00

	Had to consult wikipedia about this one. – Arlen Beiler May 28 '10 at 14:43
	en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere – Arlen Beiler May 28 '10 at 14:44
	@Arlen - obviously you've not read enough science fiction. See also Ringworld. – ChrisF May 29 '10 at 12:36

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added by Tobias Kienzler May 28 '10 at 12:02

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added by juanformoso May 28 '10 at 13:03

off topic, argumentative – juanformoso May 28 '10 at 13:03

It could be a jokey title for a discussion of the Drake equation, which I think is on-topic. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation But yeah, argumentative. – therefromhere May 28 '10 at 15:33

Added a more suitable phrasing of this question: area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/51/astronomy/… – therefromhere May 28 '10 at 15:36

I don't see this as argumentative, it's the Fermi Paradox. Any discussion of the existence of alien life should include this. It's only off topic if discussions of the existence of alien life is also off topic. – Chris Rowland May 29 '10 at 11:59

This is a discussion subject and doesn't fit into the SE paradigm. – Chris Rowland May 30 '10 at 6:32

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added by dagorym May 28 '10 at 16:16

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added by juanformoso May 29 '10 at 0:58

	I'm wondering if this is a "great off-topic" example in that there's no need to waste the attention of astronomers on it. I'm not even 100% sure if my intuition on the answer is correct, but I'm 100% sure I can find the answer with an automated search on Google. – Larry OBrien Jun 5 '10 at 2:30
	The idea of the SE model is that it becomes a repository of all information on the subject, and that a Google search will lead to here. – Corey Jun 5 '10 at 3:10

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added by Tobias Kienzler May 29 '10 at 18:02

closed as off topic by WikiSpeedia hang-around, Aim Kai, Andrew Lowe, Giorgi, HoLyVieR Jun 22 '10 at 13:16

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System – Tobias Kienzler May 29 '10 at 18:03

I'm going to go +1 on this on the theory that "space exploration and spaceflight" are on-topic. – Larry OBrien May 29 '10 at 18:30

Besides, Meade's GoTo Telescopes use GPS for location and time. – Arlen Beiler May 29 '10 at 19:30

@Arlen Celestron scopes use Aluminium castings so this reasoning makes discussion of aluminium casting on topic!. – Chris Rowland May 30 '10 at 13:48

@Arlen they also use electric motors to move the axes, so discussion about electric motors is OK? – Tim Long Jun 2 '10 at 21:25

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added by dagorym May 30 '10 at 5:44

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added by dagorym May 30 '10 at 5:47

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added by Larry OBrien, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around May 31 '10 at 18:53

This is a spammy question. He is simply asking which inflated faster, space or currency. – Arlen Beiler May 31 '10 at 1:58

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added by ChrisF May 30 '10 at 21:39

	Use of Astological names should be on-topic, even though the theory is off topic. – cindi Jun 8 '10 at 17:03
	@cindi - that's the point ;) – ChrisF Jun 8 '10 at 17:24

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added by dagorym May 31 '10 at 15:08

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added by delete, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Jun 2 '10 at 23:46

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added by delete Jun 1 '10 at 10:57

@dswan: can you provide some context? In particular the hexagonal shape. – WikiSpeedia hang-around Jun 1 '10 at 13:14

jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2007-034 The question itself may be mildly contentious because I'm not sure it's entirely resolved! – delete Jun 1 '10 at 19:12

It's a discussion subject, not really a question. – Chris Rowland Jun 2 '10 at 7:27

@dswan: thanks. I didn't know it existed! – WikiSpeedia hang-around Jun 2 '10 at 23:45

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added by dagorym Jun 1 '10 at 18:53

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added by Scott Wales Jun 2 '10 at 0:49

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added by Scott Wales Jun 2 '10 at 0:50

	Should be suitable for a community wiki – Scott Wales Jun 2 '10 at 0:52
	maybe linkable to area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/1907/… – Tobias Kienzler Jun 2 '10 at 8:22

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added by Scott Wales Jun 2 '10 at 0:51

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added by Arlen Beiler Jun 23 '10 at 13:44

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added by Giorgi May 25 '10 at 6:56

This should really be two questions – dagorym May 27 '10 at 13:31

There should be a "split question" feature in stack exchange for questions like these. – Spoike Jun 3 '10 at 13:16

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added by Michael Pryor May 25 '10 at 15:42

	'Should be' is all relative of course ;-) – Martin Beckett May 27 '10 at 2:50
	Right. But we are assuming the timezone at Cape Carnavaral. – Arlen Beiler May 28 '10 at 16:36

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added by Scott Wisniewski May 27 '10 at 4:11

this is one of the reasons why I'd suggest a connection to physics.stackechange.com - not merging but some linking feature SE2.1 might include – Tobias Kienzler May 28 '10 at 5:57

@Tobias: Or a "migrate to ..." feature like the trilogy site. – KennyTM Jun 2 '10 at 19:46

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added by Rog May 27 '10 at 4:54

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added by WikiSpeedia hang-around May 27 '10 at 10:40

Otherwise we are going to be simply a tech support forum for brand XYZ or just a scope/camera review site. – Martin Beckett May 27 '10 at 14:46

@Martin Beckett: this particular question is for a home-built camera, from "The CCD Camera Cookbook". – WikiSpeedia hang-around May 27 '10 at 16:27

@Peter - ok that makes more sense. – Martin Beckett May 27 '10 at 22:49

This is exactly the sort of question that AstroAnswers is designed to answer. – Chris Rowland May 29 '10 at 7:43

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added by WikiSpeedia hang-around May 27 '10 at 10:44

	(Galaxy Zoo: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_Zoo) – WikiSpeedia hang-around May 27 '10 at 10:45
	Building community is a useful part of SE – Martin Beckett May 27 '10 at 14:49

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added by WikiSpeedia hang-around May 27 '10 at 11:27

	Taking back my other comment about too localized - the point of SE and the long tail is that of course there might be a reader in Belgium that has just had this done. – Martin Beckett May 27 '10 at 14:50
	But what is the "shelf life" of this answer? – Mike Grady May 31 '10 at 5:11

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added by WikiSpeedia hang-around May 27 '10 at 11:30

	(Dark energy is in the physics sense of the term: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_energy) – WikiSpeedia hang-around May 27 '10 at 11:31
	another reason why astronomy and physics SE's should be linked – Tobias Kienzler May 28 '10 at 6:05

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added by WikiSpeedia hang-around May 27 '10 at 11:35

closed as off topic by ire_and_curses, gnovice, Mike Grady, Aim Kai, Giorgi Jun 17 '10 at 6:44

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

(Sky & Telescope: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_&_Telescope) – WikiSpeedia hang-around May 27 '10 at 11:36

too localized.. – juanformoso May 27 '10 at 13:44

My feeling is that the link to astronomy is too tenuous. This is really a question about shopping, for goods that just happen to be related to astronomy. Put another way, the answer to this question would be all about magazines and not really about astronomy. – Tim Long May 27 '10 at 17:37

@ Tim Long: I agree. I posted this question to test the boundaries. – WikiSpeedia hang-around May 27 '10 at 17:43

@Peter Mortensen - then it was a good test :) – Tim Long May 27 '10 at 17:59

show 1 more improvement suggestion

up vote 0 down vote

added by juanformoso May 27 '10 at 13:35

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added by dagorym May 27 '10 at 13:37

another reason why astronomy and physics SE's should be linked – Tobias Kienzler May 28 '10 at 6:02

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added by juanformoso, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around May 31 '10 at 18:57

Possible answers could include fuel and time restrictions, long term space travel on the human body, etc – juanformoso May 27 '10 at 13:43

Should the site include space exploration? I'd say probably, yes. – therefromhere May 27 '10 at 15:17

It's my opinion that space flight and space exploration don't belong in an astronomy site but would be better put into a separate site. I don't have the karma to be able to propose this... – Chris Rowland Jun 3 '10 at 12:32

@Chris Rowland: done. – WikiSpeedia hang-around Jun 3 '10 at 13:48