Is there temerature in outer space?

Question

As there is no air, what would the temerature be.

Answer 1

There are still particles in outer space. The cosmic microwave background is 2.7K or -270.45C so that's the temperature of outer space.

Answer 2

The temperature of outer space is the temperature that an object in space will have after it comes to thermal equilibrium. This assumes the object is not itself a source or sink for heat energy. Since there is nothing touching such an object (space being a vacuum), the only way heat energy can enter or leave such an object is by absorbing or emitting photons (light or other electromagnetic energy).

Space is filled with the remnant flash of the Big Bang, which in the current era is microwave energy with a temperature of 2.7 K (2.7 degrees C above absolute zero.) So, after an object in space reaches thermal equilibrium by exchanging photons with the Big Bang, its temperature will be 2.7 K. This assumes the object is not near a warm body, such as a star or planet or other such object.

Answer 3

"temperature" is defined by the speed of the particules you're trying to get the temperature from.

In space, there are quite a few particles, but it's not COMPLETELY void. it's just there are very very very few particles... But they can still have the speeds they want.

For example, the outer layers of earth have temperatures that can go up to 2500°C (4500°F), but since the pressure (number of particules per cubic meter) is very small, a "normal" thermometer would still read the minimal value it can read.


Temperature varies a lot, in space (close to a planet, AND far from them). but you would still FEEL it like cold, most of the time (except when close enough to a star and in direct sunlight. - close enough meaning less than 1 light hour - ie: about 10 times the distance sun-earth)

Answer 4

Bring a blankie, there is temperature everywhere. It can be severely cold in some areas, extremely hot in others. This will help you out.

The very concept of temperature is not a fundamental one like mass or
charge. It is actually a measure of the average kinetic energy of all of
the particles in a system. It does not have very much meaning except when a
system is itself at thermal equilibrium. And its value depends very much on
the nature of the thermal contact between a system and its surroundings.

Interplanetary space is a fairly good vacuum. There is little opportunity
for heat to move to or from an object by conduction or convection. Small
amounts of energy will be transferred in occasional encounters with the
molecules of interplantetary space. Most heat transfer to or from a body in
interplanetary space will be through radiation.

I presume that you are asking the following question: suppose that we were
to take an object to the edge of the earth's atmosphere, where the
background molecule concentration was similar to that in interplanetary
space. We leave it there for a long time until it achieves some sort of
thermal equilibrium with its surroundings. What temperature will we find it
at?

There is a need to be even more precise in the first part of your question.
Something in direct sunlight has a sunny side and a shady side; at most one
half of it is in direct sunlight. So I will presume that your object is
made of metal (so that heat will be rapidly conducted through the whole
object), or rotating rapidly with an axis perpendicular to the plane of the
earth's orbit, or both.

Finally, if we are looking at radiation transfer into and out from an
object, it is important how much of the radiation is absorbed, and how much
is simply reflected away from the surface. The proportion of incoming
sunlight that is reflected directly back into space by an object is known
as its albedo. Initially, we will assume that your object is a perfectly
black body, that is, its albedo is 0.

In this case, the required datum can be found in the CRC Handbook of
Chemistry & Physics, in a table entitled 'Physical Data for the planets,
their satellites, and some asteroids' in a column headed 'Average
Temperature (K)' and sub-headed 'equilibrium'. In my volume (56th Ed) it is
on page F-176.

The equilibrium temperature of a black-body in direct sunlight in
interplanetary space near the earth would be 394 K = 121 deg C.

If the body is not black, a good approximation can be obtained simply by
multiplying (1 - albedo) by the absolute temperature. For the earth itself,
the albedo is about 0.36. 36% of total incident sunlight is reflected back
into space, which means that 64% is absorbed by the Earth/atmosphere
system. The equilibrium temperature for a body of this brightness would be
0.64 times 394 K = 252 K = -21 deg C.

The equilibrium temperature for a body as bright as the earth in direct
sunlight in interplanetary space near the earth would be 252 K = -21 deg C.

The earth itself is some 35 degrees warmer than this because of the natural
greenhouse effect due to the water vapour and carbon dioxide in its
atmosphere.

The second part of the original question is much more difficult to answer
in any meaningful way at all. An answer I can give is 'definitely less than
100 K = -173 deg C, and definitely more that 2 K = -271 deg C'.

If direct radiation from the sun is not part of the energy input, then what
is? To what extent does the object causing the 'shading' block access of
energetic solar particles? Is the object itself exposed to bright
'earthlight' -- reflected sunlight from the earth? It is 'just above the
earth', but how much of the infrared emission of the earth's own radiation
it will receive depends exactly on just how far above the earth.

The figure of 100 K is the temperature of the night side of the moon.
Basically that is 'an object just above the earth in the shade'. But this
temperature will be a fairly drastic over-estimate, because much of it will
be due to a residual warmth from when the local surface was on the sunlit
side of the moon a fortnight previously. The temperature of 2 K is the
temperature of the background microwave radiation that is believed to be
the echo of the 'big bang'. As the whole universe is bathed in this
radiation, it probably represents the lowest equilibrium temperature that
any object can achieve in the universe.

I hope that I helped!

Edit: contrary to popular belief, solar winds are not "wind" at all. They are an intense wave of radiation.

Answer 5

The temperature of outer space is minus 454 degrees Fahrenheit. This is the temperature of space itself, not matter in space, and is the left-over temperature from the Big Bang which first created space.

Answer 6

They say that the Earth is in the perfect position from the Sun.
A little farther, and we would freeze. A little closer, we would burn up. NOT!
The Sun is not hot enough to heat the Earth! It is COLD in space. It is just that there are certain properties in the Sun, (rays), that bring out certain properties in the atmosphere. And that creates heat.

Answer 7

In a pure "void" there is no defined temperature, but since this is only in theory... you whould find temperature also in outer space. Depending where you're "positioned" it could be quite cold or very very hot(heard of solar winds?)... try searching wikipedia for a specific answer......

Answer 8

Yes, there would be a temperature, but it would be very low. While there is no air in your example, there is light, which is radiation, and exposure to any kind of radiation will increase the temperature of an object(like a thermometer)

Answer 9

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Answer 10

Science Guy gets best answer. That is what I was going to say.