The sun warms up our planet but space is cold. If I lit a candle and stood 20 feet away, I could see the light but not feel the warmth. So, why do we feel warmth from the sun but space isn’t warmed by it?
In: 512
In space, you only get heated by the direct incident radiative energy from the sun on the side facing the sun, and depending on how far away from the sun you are, that may or may not be enough to overcome the heat loss you radiate to mostly empty space. Things that are closer to the sun might get extremely hot on that side, but things farther from the sun may be only slightly warmed.
On the side away from the sun, it gets very cold very fast, and there is no atmosphere to help carry the sun’s heat to the other side as happens on planets with an atmosphere. You could rotate to even out the incident radiation, or fly a reflective surface on the “away side” to reflect solar heat back onto you. But managing the heat differential is a big issue for spacecraft and satellites.
You may notice something close to this effect in higher altitude deserts, where the days can get very hot and the nights very cold.
Latest Answers