Related papers: Why are there Seven Sisters?
The study of asteroids, its composition and trajectories, has been a persistent interest in the space exploration community. In addition, they are also perceived as a great threat to life on Earth, considering the possibility of an impact…
The obscuration of a celestial body that covers another one in the background will be called a ``hierarchical eclipse''. The most obvious case is that a star or a planet will be hidden from sight by the moon during a lunar eclipse. Four…
The anomalous chemical abundances and the structure of the Edgewood-Kuiper belt observed in the solar system constrain the initial mass and radius of the star cluster in which the sun was born to $M\simeq500$ to 3000 \msun and $R\simeq 1$…
About 20% of all massive stars in the Milky Way have unusually high velocities, the origin of which has puzzled astronomers for half a century. We argue that these velocities originate from strong gravitational interactions between single…
There are at least three compelling reasons for the human race to initiate a major programme to explore and better understand the 'minor planets' of the Solar System: (1) Enhancing scientific knowledge; (2) Mitigating the impact hazard; and…
Runaway stars are characterized by higher space velocities than typical field stars. They are presumed to have been ejected from their birth places by one or more energetic mechanisms, including supernova explosions. Accurate radial…
A young Prince decides to explore the Father's Kingdom and aims to reach its furthermost boundaries. He starts from the City with a Caravan and seven fast and strong Messengers. They have the task to maintain the communications between the…
The enigmatic open clusters serve as a constant reminder of the mysteries of the universe, helping to confront astronomical theories. Unknown to many, these clusters often possess tails with inappropriate labels, serving as the tell-tale…
The possible discovery of astronomical effects due to precession - such as the shift in the declination of heliacal raising of bright stars or the precession of the equinoxes - is reviewed for various ancient cultures in the world. Although…
Nearly a century after the true nature of galaxies as distant "island universes" was established, their origin and evolution remain great unsolved problems of modern astrophysics. One of the most promising ways to investigate galaxy…
As part of an effort to understand the origin of open clusters, we present a statistical analysis of the currently observed Pleiades. Starting with a photometric catalog of the cluster, we employ a maximum likelihood technique to determine…
The star forming region of the Orion Nebula (ONC) is ideal to study the stellar dynamics of young stars in a clustered environment. Using Gaia DR2 we search for the pre-main sequence stars with unusually high proper motions that may be…
Transient celestial phenomena feature prominently in the astronomical knowledge and traditions of Aboriginal Australians. In this paper, I collect accounts of the Aurora Australis from the literature regarding Aboriginal culture. Using…
Understanding the origin of bright shooting stars and their meteorite samples is among the most ancient astronomy-related questions that at larger scales has human consequences [1-3]. As of today, only ${\sim}\,6\%$ of meteorite falls have…
This paper examines the discrepancy between distances to nearby open clusters as determined by parallaxes from Hipparcos compared to traditional main sequence fitting. The biggest difference is seen for the Pleiades, and our hypothesis is…
Studying the nature of spiral arms is essential for understanding the formation of the intricate disc structure of the Milky Way. The European Space Agency's Gaia mission has provided revolutionary observational data that have uncovered…
The traditional cultures of Aboriginal Australians include a significant astronomical component, which is usually reported in terms of songs or stories associated with stars and constellations. Here we argue that the astronomical components…
Observations of the Kuiper Belt indicate that a larger than expected percentage of KBO's (approximately 8 out of 500) are in binary pairs. The formation and survival of such objects presents a conundrum [1]. Two competing theories have been…
Stellar clusters are open windows to understand stellar evolution. Specifically, the change with time and the dependence on mass of different stellar properties. As such, they are our laboratories where different theories can be tested. We…
This article relates two topics of central importance in modern astronomy - the discovery some fifteen years ago of the first planets around other stars (exoplanets), and the centuries-old problem of understanding the origin of our own…