What is the tempeture in space ?

[Cpickens89]

im just curious to know ....

if facing the sun what temp are you being exsposed to and vise versa lets say while above the earth without it blocking any light

ive got mixed answers looking on the net so what ya'll think ?

 

[Saiph]

well, it's a bit complicated, as the lack of an atmosphere means there isn't really a uniform temperature in space. The temperature of objects in space really depend on several factors, reflectance & shape to begin with.

But a good rule of thumb, IIRC is ~300F in the sunlight, and -200F in the shade for an objected near earths orbit. Now, that's a fuzzy memory...so treat it with a grain of salt.

 

[ramparts]

The other thing (and this is an extension of your original question) is that even in pure, empty space - away from the light of a nearby star like the Sun - there's a background temperature in space. In fact, it's 2.725 degrees Celsius above absolute zero. It comes from the so-called Cosmic Microwave Background - a stream of microwave photons coming from every direction, left over from some of the very earliest stages of the universe.

 

[darkmatter4brains]

Another thing to be aware of with temperatures in astrophysics (in space) is they dont always translate into what we commonly think of as "temperature", or our daily experience of it. For example, you might here of a temperature somewhere out there of 10,000 degrees and think, wow, that is hot. But, if you could transport yourself there, you might actually find yourself freezing your hiney off. Why? Because the temperature here is associated with the speed (energy) of particles/molecules, but in space the densities are usually so low there just aren't enought particles to transfer the energy to you, to make you feel "hot".

A common example on Earth would be boiling water and your oven. My oven was set at 450 last night, but I could stick my hand in three for a little while no problem. Try the same with boiling water which is at a lower temperature. Better yet, dont try! ;-) higher density in water, more energy transfer to your hand.

Maybe you already knew this, but I just thought I would throw it out there, because it's a fairly common misconception.

 

[MeteorWayne]

That's a great example/mind exercise dm4b! Indeed, sticking your hand in boiling water at 100C will cause severe burns, while the 450 oven is quite safe. To extend that a bit more , two examples. If you cook something in that 450 degree oven on a sheet of aluminum foil, you can pick up the 450 degree foil with your bare hands as long as there's no liquid or food on the parts you grasp.

Another example is that I can hold my hand above my wood stove with no problem, but when I pour water on the top to moisten the environment, I have to make darn sure that my hand isn't enveloped in that 100C steam or bad things happen to my hands. Traditionally, I cause one major hand burn each season before the full "Watch Out Stupid!!!!" brain warning kicks in.

 

[Cpickens89]

this is all pretty cool stuff , thanks for the answer's guy's it helps out a bunch


being that there is no atmosphere in space obviously , is there no one consistant tempature in space ?

 

[MeteorWayne]

That's pretty much correct. The mimimum temp is 2.7 K, and other places are "hotter" depending on how close they are to sources of high energy particles. Objects are warmer on the side that faces stars or other radiation souces, and cooler when radiating into space.

 

[neilsox]

We could inflate a transparent balloon (in orbit, around Earth) with one milibar of air. In sunlight the air might warm to 100 degrees c = 212 degrees f. A white or silvered (but not totally opac) balloon would be perhaps zero c = 32 f. Shaded by Earth, the air might eventually cool enough to freeze to oxygen and nitrogen snow. Heat is transfered by 3 methods; conduction, convection and radiation. In the vacuum of Earth orbit, almost no conduction or convection would occur between the balloon and space. Conduction between the air and the balloon surface would occur. the air in the balloon would circulate = convection, but heat gain and heat loss would be almost completely by infrared and visable photons = radiation. Neil

 

[aphh]

Heat management is done by rotating the spacecraft in space, if necessary.

When facing sun, your face would receive quite a bit of radiation and would quickly warm up, whereas your backside would point to the abyss of space, not receiving sun's energy and would start to freeze.

The solution is to turn around when your face starts to feel too hot and your butt is freezing.