Like i understand there isn’t a lot of things for the heat from Stars to bounce off of but what causes Space itself to be cold? Is it naturally always cold and if so why?
In: Planetary Science
Space is cold because it’s mostly empty, and there isn’t anything to hold or trap heat like there is on Earth. On Earth, the air and other materials can hold and spread heat around, but in space, there’s almost no air or anything else to do that.
Here’s a simple way to think about it: Imagine you’re outside on a really clear night. Without clouds or anything around, it feels colder because there’s nothing to keep the heat in. In space, it’s even more extreme because it’s almost completely empty, so the heat from the Sun can’t spread around very well.
Also, space doesn’t have a temperature in the usual way we think about it because it’s a vacuum (an area with very few particles). Instead, the temperature of objects in space depends on how much sunlight they’re getting. For example, the side of a spaceship facing the Sun can get very hot, while the side facing away can be extremely cold. So, in general, space is cold because it doesn’t have anything to keep the heat around!
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