Questions tagged [the-sun]
Questions regarding the Sun, or Sol in Latin, the star at the center of the solar system Earth is in.
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How much energy from the Sun could we get if we use Jupiter or the Earth as an atmospheric lens?
How much energy (watts) from sunlight could arrive to the focal point if we use Jupiter or the Earth as an atmospheric lens by using refraction?
How far the focal point would have to be placed for ...
4
votes
1answer
517 views
How efficient and fast would seven Caplan thrusters be at pushing the Sun and would it be worth building more than one?
I was thinking about stellar engines. One type of stellar engine is the Caplan thruster, which concentrates the star's light onto the star's surface to create beams of solar wind, which are collected ...
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votes
1answer
97 views
When the magnetic poles of the Sun flip (once in 11 years), is the Earth hit by more galactic cosmic rays?
The Sun protects us from cosmic rays from beyond the solar system. Every 11 years, the Sun's poles reverse.
Solar cosmic rays are greatest during the reversal.
During the reversal, are we hit by more ...
6
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2answers
875 views
Is disabling glare common in space?
I'd like to know if astronauts have been under the effect of Disabling Glare, how easily this could accidentally happen and how long can last if this happen?
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5answers
16k views
Why is it easier to escape the solar system than get to Mercury or the Sun?
It has been mentioned several times on this site that it is "easier" (less delta-v, and hence less fuel) to reach the escape velocity of the solar system, than to reach the planet Mercury or ...
4
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1answer
84 views
Could the magnetosphere of Mercury protect humans?
In theory, we built a space station orbiting Mercury like the ISS on Earth. Will the magnetosphere of Mercury similarly protect humans from this radiation (despite being close to the sun)?
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0answers
70 views
How does the Solar Orbiter take images so close to the sun without melting its camera?
The EUI on the NASA/ESA Solar Orbiter recently captured the closest ever images of the sun. How is that made possible without destroying the imager?
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2answers
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Was solar newbie Solar Orbiter able to get “closer” to the Sun than Parker Solar Probe so quickly?
The NASA News headline ESA/NASA's Solar Orbiter Returns First Data, Snaps Closest Pictures of the Sun caught my eye because Solar Orbiter (2020-010A) was launched just five months ago whereas Parker ...
6
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2answers
189 views
How deep into the corona could the Parker Solar Probe go without being damaged?
An answer to the question Has any object launched from Earth gone into the Sun? says
The probe will repeatedly touch the outer corona until mission end in 2025, with the closest approach being 3.83 ...
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7answers
8k views
Do you need 0 km/s velocity to crash into the sun?
I was reading a popular thread about the delta-v required to escape the solar system compared to the delta-v required to crash into the sun. I get it: the earth itself already has a high speed (29.7km/...
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4answers
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Did any spacecraft ever use the Sun's gravity for acceleration?
Space probes often use planets to accelerate onto a trajectory towards their goal(s) without having to consume too much fuel. But the fastest acceleration would be made through the Sun's gravity if ...
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2answers
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Why did ESA's Solar Orbiter mission's target inclination drop from 34 to 25°?
Wikipedia says that:
During the planned 7-year mission the orbital inclination will be raised to about 25°
But the information below shows that originally the target final inclination was much ...
2
votes
1answer
203 views
How strong is Sun magnetic field on Moon surface? And on Mars?
I wan to calculate the voltage difference generated by sun EM Field on a wire placed on Moon or Mars surface, but I can't find consistent data about solar EM Field.
I found different values:
The ...
2
votes
1answer
137 views
Space and Newton laws
I've read some articles which explain that we can't totally rely on Newtonian gravity concepts for understanding the motion of objects in space.
My question is how the use of relativity helps us to ...
2
votes
3answers
950 views
What is the gravitational acceleration of the Sun?
What is the gravitational acceleration of the Sun?
I've seen numbers such as 274 m/s2, but that doesn't make sense to me seeing that relatively weak sources of spacecraft thrust such as Electric ...
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votes
2answers
225 views
Is the Heliosphere as elliptical as this graphic suggests?
I noticed the following graphic being used in an article discussing the Voyager probes. It also appears on Wikipedia's Heliosphere page:
The same page states that:
On a broader scale, the motion ...
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0answers
62 views
Will ESA's Solar Orbiter crash into Venus? If so, why?
The BBC News article European SolO probe ready to take on audacious mission links to the ESA video shown below and contains this 5 minute audio interview with NASA deputy project scientist on the ...
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vote
2answers
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What is ESA's Solar Orbiter's target inclination?
The BBC News article European SolO probe ready to take on audacious mission links to the ESA video shown below and contains this 5 minute audio interview with NASA deputy project scientist on the ...
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votes
1answer
42 views
How to deteremine the angle between Sun and 2 probes?
I have the orbital position and velocity and the orbital parameter of 2 spacecraft at LEO, how to define the angle between Sun - Probe 2 - Probe 1 in ECI frame (If you imagine at a point sun then ...
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votes
1answer
84 views
What happens if you put rings with the mass of several suns around a black hole? [closed]
Can someone also explain to me what happens from 7:24 to 9:20 (basically he creates a sun, locks it in place, the sun starts absorbing the black holes' rings and growing, it starts dropping pieces of ...
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2answers
6k views
Has any object launched from Earth gone into the Sun?
I've seen a lot of questions about the $\Delta V$ required to reach the Sun from the Earth (~22-30 km/s if I remember correctly), firing a bullet into the sun, etc.
But has this ever happened? Has ...
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3answers
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Is it really ~648.69 km/s delta-v to “land” on the surface of the Sun?
According to the following diagram it would require ~648.69 km/s to do all of the intermediate transfers that would land you at or around the sun's surface at perigee. Is this a real number? How would ...
3
votes
1answer
109 views
Main issues space telescopes face when pointing in the same general direction as the Sun?
What are the main issues that space telescopes face when pointing at objects that are in the same general direction as the Sun? Why do they generally schedule their observing for objects in the ...
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1answer
112 views
PIR application as a sun sensor
Is there any history or merit to using a PIR (Pyroelectric ("Passive") InfraRed Sensor) as a sun sensor for determining the attitude or position of a Satellite?
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2answers
458 views
What Gravity does the Sun affect items with at the distance of 1 AU?
At the surface of the Earth, the force of gravity is defined as 1 G.
I am wondering what gravitational force the sun excerts at the distance of 1 AU (the distance Earth is at). Imagine it like this; ...
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1answer
164 views
How would molten or liquid metal be transported in open space? [closed]
How to transport a ball of liquid, molten metal nearest to the Sun possible? It must be close to the Sun for the metal to stay molten.
However, to stay safely cool enough, the spacecraft must always ...
2
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2answers
282 views
What is the shielding capability of liquid metal compaired to solid metal?
For simplicity, consider a spherical metal shape for shielding cargo/people behind. (The liquid ball is supposed to be between the Sun and the cargo. Not people inside it.)
A problem I see is that it ...
2
votes
2answers
196 views
Is a solar free-return trajectory possible?
I'm coining a new phrase: "Dyson circuit". Is it possible, with current solar orbital capabilities (see Parker Solar Probe), to drive artificial satellites in a free-return trajectory around the Sun?
...
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2answers
61 views
How do scientists determine how big a certain star is? [closed]
I was just wondering, many people say that there are stars that are waay bigger than our sun and in some videos they even try to say the exact diameter of the Sun, but I was wondering: How can ...
2
votes
1answer
142 views
How cold was it in the shade of the Parker solar probe?
What was the temperature in the shade of the Parker solar probe? Do to the proximity at the closest point the probe got to the Sun how much shade can be produced at that range?
3
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0answers
84 views
What is the effect of a solar flare on electronics on the surface of Mars?
Mars has practically no magnetosphere. Where does the impact of a solar flare on the electronics of Mars landers and rovers fall along the scale of nothing to EMP?
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vote
1answer
353 views
Liquid shield for spacecraft? [closed]
Could an alloy of hot or cold liquid metal be made magnetic by adding electricity to the molten ball to give it magnetic properties to wirelessly attach it to a space craft to use as a shield shown in ...
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1answer
251 views
Parker Solar probe jumping through fire?
Is the principle of passing close the Sun with the Parker Solar probe the same as if you pass your hand over a candle flame fast enough you won't get burned?
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1answer
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Could we possibly see the shadow offset from Parker Solar probe on Earth?
The closer an object to the source of light, the larger the shadow it casts.
Parker Solar probe would fly within 3.7 million miles (6 million kilometers) of the sun's surface. It sounds quite far ...
3
votes
0answers
567 views
Could the sun be used as a super-amplifier for SETI transmissions? [closed]
I just want to know if there is any scientific merit to this, the premise of Cixen Liu's novel, "The Three-Body Problem". English translation published in 2016.
See also Tor.com: Cixin Liu’s Award-...
3
votes
2answers
318 views
How would a Jupiter flyby have helped to get to the Sun? Why was it later ruled out?
The quote below surprised me. What were the orbital mechanical details of using a Jupiter flyby to get a probe from Earth so close to the Sun? Was a "U-turn" possible; single flyby of Jupiter into a ...
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2answers
321 views
Lighting an area of the Earth Surface from LEO
What does the math look like to calculate the size of an object in LEO that when angled off the sun, would illuminate a given portion of the Earth's surface?
For example, if I wanted to "light up" a ...
10
votes
1answer
818 views
Is it possible to reach the Sun without expending any fuel/reaction mass?
Imagine that I'm designing a space probe, that will initially be placed into an Earth-like orbit around the Sun.
My goal is to have the probe fly/fall into the Sun; it's allowed to take as much time ...
6
votes
1answer
338 views
Parker Solar probe's heat survival - Heat vs Temperature
This is not about about heat shields, materials, coolant, etc.
I am not quite not getting the science that explains the Heat Vs Temperature, which is how the Parker probe is going to survive the ...
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2answers
76 views
Can the Sun's magnetic field be used to propel a solar satellite?
Can diamagnetic materials or a diamagnetic devise be used to propel using the magnetic field of the Sun in a solar polar magnetic assisted slingshot?
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votes
3answers
243 views
What is the Lux value of the Sun and Earth in Low Earth Orbit (altitude=400 km)?
I'm the Attitude Control System team lead on a cube satellite project, and we're trying to use cheap lux sensors to determine the body sun vector (vector adding the lux from each sensor). I want to ...
24
votes
3answers
4k views
What would happen if a satellite took a direct hit from a coronal mass ejection (CME)?
I was wondering what would happen if the average satellite were hit by an average CME. According to wikipedia the average velocity of a CME is 20 to 3,200 km/s. In addition to this it's super-heated, ...
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votes
3answers
850 views
Is a sun-blocking orbit possible?
Is it possible for an orbital "sun shade satellite" to have a geosynchronous equatorial orbit such that it is in an approximately straight line between the Sun and a fixed point on the Earth's ...
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votes
1answer
263 views
Could a spacecraft be propelled by the deflection of a very high number of charged particles?
I am wondering if a spacecraft could be propelled through interplanetary space via the deflection and/or displacement of a very high number of charged particles contained within the Sun's solar wind.
...
4
votes
1answer
178 views
What are the problems that need to be taken in consideration when trying to find planetary position by using jpl ephemerides?
I'm currently trying to determine the position of the sun and the moon from jpl ephemeris DE200 which is referred to the dynamical equator and equinox of 2000 and uses tdb time. I am using the j2000 ...
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2answers
928 views
Solar Flux on Mars Surface
Considering that the Solar Flux on top of Mars' atmosphere is 590 W/m2 (following the 1/r^2 relation for sunlight), how much of this incident light actually arrives to Mars.
In other words, what is ...
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1answer
250 views
How quickly is the force of gravity exerted? Is a finite “speed of gravity” used in orbit calculations?
So I was reading a post of "What would happen if the sun disappeared".
An excerpt:
After eight minutes, the Earth would not only lose the sun's light and heat, but also its gravitational influence. ...
2
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1answer
129 views
Is communication from a spacecraft in SEL1 disturbed by the Sun?
A spacecraft at the Sun Earth Lagrange point one (1% of an AU, or one Solar diameter, from Earth towards the Sun) would have the Sun as its background. Is the Sun emitting strongly enough at ...
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3answers
4k views
Why does the ISS need thermal blankets if the Sun is hot?
If space is cold at 2.7 Kelvin and heat can't escape in a vacuum then why is the ISS wrapped in space blankets if the sun is hot?
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2answers
366 views
How can a solar storm be predicted?
Satellites like DSCOVR are used to predict solar storms.
How does that work? If the satellite is orbiting L1 and "watches" the sun, how can the signal be back on earth before a storm arrives?
How ...
