If getting closer to the sun means it’s gets hotter, would there be a point in space where temperatures would be earthlike?
In: Planetary Science
Yes, about 1 AU.
(i.e. the distance earth is from the sun)
That’s because what you describe (a point where temperature would be earth like) is exactly what earth is. The planet receives sunlight which is energy, and it heats up the planet. The planet also emits light (in the infra-red) which cools the planet.
Over time, these two will balance (they have to eventually, it’s called ‘thermal equilibrium’), and there is a certain temperature where it balances. We just happen to be balanced at that “earth like temperature’.
For instance, Venus is a lot warmer than earth, Mars is a lot colder.
How all the science works out exactly is extremely complicated, it depends on how the sunlight gets reflected, how it gets absorbed, how it gets emitted back into space, how the entire atmosphere moves and stores energy, how oceans store energy, etc etc etc. On earth “global warming” is exactly how stuff like carbon dioxide in the atmosphere changes the way sunlight gets absorbed (and how that energy gets re-emitted) and it pushes that balanced “earth like” temperature higher. And of course, that causes a LOT of problems.
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