[ELI5] Would something stay hot in the space forever since there is nothing to transfer its heat?
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Not forever, it would still lose energy in the form of light, but it would stay hot for much longer than if there was an atmosphere to transfer heat to.
Not forever, it would still lose energy in the form of light, but it would stay hot for much longer than if there was an atmosphere to transfer heat to.
If you’re curious, you could look up some info on the James Webb Space Telescope. In order to operate, it must be as close to absolute zero as it can get. We had to wait for the telescope to cool down on its own, then use a chiller to drop the temperature further. I’m sure there’s a lot of good info out there about cooling this telescope that could help you learn a lot more about how things cool in space and how heat radiates.
If you’re curious, you could look up some info on the James Webb Space Telescope. In order to operate, it must be as close to absolute zero as it can get. We had to wait for the telescope to cool down on its own, then use a chiller to drop the temperature further. I’m sure there’s a lot of good info out there about cooling this telescope that could help you learn a lot more about how things cool in space and how heat radiates.
Not forever, but objects in space can have an issue of being slow to lose heat.
e.g. spacestations have to be carefully designed to radiate enough of the heat that they generate to not cook their inhabitants.
So, there is something to your intution of objects in space being able to stay hot, but nowhere near the “forever” you guessed.
Not forever, but objects in space can have an issue of being slow to lose heat.
e.g. spacestations have to be carefully designed to radiate enough of the heat that they generate to not cook their inhabitants.
So, there is something to your intution of objects in space being able to stay hot, but nowhere near the “forever” you guessed.
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