Timeline for What is the minimum size for the Sun?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
18 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Nov 22, 2018 at 18:27 | comment | added | user57423 | @stux Ah, I see. Thank you for the heads up! | |
| Nov 22, 2018 at 17:57 | comment | added | stux | @user57423 Oh! Quick response! Yes, Earth temperature isn't uniform which is why I worded my comment the way I did: the energy differences that produce our temperature differences are relatively minute. If, for example, you shrink our sun to the size of earth, the goldilocks zone would shrink down to a few meters, maybe less. Areas closer might melt the ship, areas further away might get Pluto-like conditions. This is a direct consequence of the "Inverse-square law" (see wikipedia) and limit how evenly things are irradiated. So a long, thin sun or spherical ship might be your best options. | |
| Nov 22, 2018 at 17:39 | comment | added | user57423 | @stux Temperature on Earth isn't uniform, and an O'Neill cylinder with frozen "poles" and a hot "equator" may be better than one with a uniform climate. | |
| Nov 22, 2018 at 17:36 | comment | added | stux | You may want to examine the shape of your craft: a "star" inside the cylinder won't heat all parts evenly and the ideal temperature range (goldilocks zone) may be a thin band much smaller than the size of the cylinder. The O'Neill cylinder has gaps on the sides of the cylinder so the (really faraway) sun can evenly heat the exposed areas. A mini Dyson's sphere might be more appropriate in your scenario. | |
| Nov 21, 2018 at 16:15 | history | edited | user57423 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Nov 21, 2018 at 16:07 | vote | accept | CommunityBot | ||
| Nov 21, 2018 at 15:36 | comment | added | pipe | @user57423 If that's your requirement you should probably write that out explicitly so that people have more information to go on when answering | |
| Nov 21, 2018 at 15:34 | comment | added | user57423 | @pipe Life on Earth has developed under the Sun. Many biological processes that we understand, and probably many more that we don't, depend on certain aspects of the light of the Sun. While some artificial lights might look white to us, plants might not be able to photosynthesize with it, for example. So I'd rather be safe and have sunlight in my space habitat than some white-looking light that will not support my ecosystem. | |
| Nov 21, 2018 at 15:18 | comment | added | pipe | I think that your requirement of "same wavelengths" is going to limit you a lot. I don't even understand exactly what you mean, but I have a feeling that you're not so sure either. Everything will look white to a human anyway, after a pretty short time. | |
| Nov 21, 2018 at 13:57 | vote | accept | CommunityBot | ||
| Nov 21, 2018 at 13:58 | |||||
| Nov 21, 2018 at 13:52 | comment | added | Luatic | Well, I'm starting to question whether this belongs here; actually it's hypothetical but probably better suits on science.stackexchange.com ? | |
| Nov 21, 2018 at 6:30 | comment | added | user57423 | @NickT This question is about a star. But the answers suggest that I will need another source of "sun light", which I will ask about in a follow up question. | |
| Nov 20, 2018 at 21:58 | comment | added | Nick T | Does it need to be a star or can it be a fusion generator powering a light? | |
| Nov 20, 2018 at 20:36 | history | edited | user57423 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Nov 20, 2018 at 20:26 | answer | added | HDE 226868♦ | timeline score: 26 | |
| Nov 20, 2018 at 20:21 | history | notice added | L.Dutch♦ | Hard Science | |
| Nov 20, 2018 at 20:21 | answer | added | Arkenstein XII | timeline score: 12 | |
| Nov 20, 2018 at 20:15 | history | asked | user57423 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |