cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/44126927
Goldilocks
Only with protective layers though.
this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2026
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It’s funny how something can be technically correct and still feel counterintuitive. Space really is extreme in every direction.
Space isn't cold. It isn't hot either.
PV=nRT.
When you treat n as the independent variable...
I forget sometimes that while space isvery cold, it's also an incredible insulator.
In terms of convection sure, but radiation against -270C will freeze you quickly enough.
And in direct sunlight at Earth distance you'll cook. Space isn't cold. It isn't anything. You are describing your temperature.
Im describing heat flux in space, which the vast majority of is far from any heat source. Get out of here with your heliocentrism, eeewwww!
I know its memes, but the astronaut tim peake discussed the space suits on No Such Thing As A Fish where he said that the whole get-up is like 16+ layers thick, and the only heating inside is for your fingertips, so you dont lose fine motor function. He said you can be sitting working on a panel outside the station, with one hand facing the sun and one hand facing the shade, and the delta-T of your two hands could be something like 500°C.
Maaaaadness! (It's been a while since I listened to this episode, my memory of numbers could be skewed.)
What is a "delta-T?"
Difference in temperature.
Yeah, sorry. Its difference in temperature. I got delta-T in my head and blinkered in on either making a 'triangle' to denote delta or just write it out, instead of just saying temperature difference.
Apologies.
Goldilocks space is like "my breath immediately turns solid in the shade and my body is turning to charcoal in the direct sunlight"
You need a giant buffer of atmosphere to help average the temperature a bit. Maybe some kind of large rock with a dense atmosphere?
The other option is a "barbeque roll" a favourite of sci-fi starships, from authors who have done some homework.
You're basically trying to balance half way up a waterfall.
That or a giant space turtle with elephants holding a flatten rock on it's back.
But what's holding up the elephants?
More elephants, obviously
WRONG! It is turtles actually. It's elephants alternating with turtles (and then every tenth level is capybaras) all the way down.
You're forgetting manatees.
They took a mental health / exercise break before they get back in there...
Real MVPs
I stand corrected.
A strong thaumic field slows down the sunlight too. Doesn't change the heat but it's nice to see sunrise pour across the landscape like honey
If you go that way you gotta have at least 8 colors.
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If that blows your mind then think about this: As the universe expanded after the Big Bang, it cooled from unimaginably high temperatures. In principle, this suggest that there could have been a very short window much later, tens of millions of years after the Big Bang, when the background temperature of the entire universe was capable of sustaining life everywhere. Some physicists have suggested this might have created a brief, universe-wide “habitable epoch,” though this remains theoretical.
I'm not an expert, so this is probably not a muture understanding, but it's cool to imagine a universe where life was incredibly abundant.
but it’s cool to imagine a universe where life was incredibly abundant
There was probably nothing but helium, hydrogen and a tiny bit of lithium at that period.
Those are some of the best elements though.
I myself am a caesium guy. Hydrogen is okay but overused
They surely are popular...
Top 3 probably
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I'm skeptical of this. Life doesn't just need a certain temperature, it needs to convert lower entropy energy to higher entropy. A uniform environment temperature does not provide any usable energy. You would still need a star or some other energy source.
It also needs something that can form complex molecules. The lightest element we know of that can form these is carbon. That didn't appear in reasonable quantities until the first stars exploded.
Interesting theory, I'd never heard of it before. All of the sudden, "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away", actually seems plausible (although this theory looks like it came well after SW in 2014).
The actual paper about it: https://lweb.cfa.harvard.edu/~loeb/habitable.pdf
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This is not completely correct though. It is our atmosphere/albedo/geological and natural processes that help maintain consistently livable temperatures, not just living in the habitable zone. No atmosphere? We'd be like the Moon, where it is too hot in sunlight and too cold in shade despite being similarly far from the sun as Earth.
Also its not true that space is "very very cold".
If you are in space wearing space suite that doesn't radiate heat properly, you could die from the excessive heat. Once dead your body stops producing heat and the existing heat eventually radiate away and your body freeze.
Space is neither hot or cold because these are property of matter. Since space has very little atoms, it technically has no temperature.
Can't ignore bosons; photon wavelength is a measure of temperature too.
Space has a temperature, which is based on the average of incoming radiation through that space; i.e. the thermal equilibrium to emit as much energy as is absorbed by a theoretical perfectly thermally conductive black body at that point in space.
Based off CMB radiation, space on average is a little over 2.7 kelvin. It'll be hotter near stars, but the void dwarfs matter on a cosmic scale
TIL.
I guess it depends on definition of the word "temperature".
I was referring to the classical definition
In classical thermodynamics and kinetic theory, temperature reflects the average kinetic energy of the particles in a system, providing a quantitative measure of how energy is distributed among microscopic degrees of freedom.
Vacuum doesn't have a temperature~
But you will if you sit in a vacuum for a while without a radiation source nearby, and it will be quite low.
Are you dissipating heat in a vacuum, though? Pressure shenanigans aside, would someone's body heat slowly, continually build up, or would they freeze?
If you could somehow prevent yourself from dying due to lack of pressure, without blocking heat, you would radiate about 650W more than you generate.
That's using the Stefan Boltzmann law, at normal body temp, perfect blackbody and 1.5m2 of skin. (~ 750 Watt) And then assuming 2000kcal a day (~100W)
You'd cool down pretty quickly.
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Heat buildup is actually a problem in space, yeah. You need heat sinks on long term space flights.
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The dark side of your body in space is freezing cold while the light side gets hot. You really need to rotate to get that even crispy layer.
Not anymore, there's a blanket
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