If getting closer to the sun means it’s gets hotter, would there be a point in space where temperatures would be earthlike?

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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

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Anonymous 0 Comments

“Temperature” is a fickle thing in the vacuum of space. There’s no air to be warmed or cooled by so we’re talking exclusively radiation absorption and emission.

If you’re just hanging out in space one side of you is getting blasted by the sun and the other side is slowly radiating heat away to the frozen abyss of deep space. To regulate your own surface temperature you’ll have to rotate like a rotisserie chicken.

But yes, for your specific mass and surface reflectivity there is a point in space where you could rotate and maintain an average of a refreshing spring day temperature.

It probably wouldn’t actually feel like that though – the sun’s unfiltered radiation would quickly give you a nasty sunburn. And of course you’d be in a hard vacuum.

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