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The Sun isn't a point light source, so the further away from Earth you get (and hence the closer to the Sun), the larger your aluminium sheet needs to be. Thin
by danparsonson 16y ago
The Sun isn't a point light source, so the further away from Earth you get (and hence the closer to the Sun), the larger your aluminium sheet needs to be.
Think of it in the limit - at the surface of the Sun, the sheet would need to be almost as large (in diameter) as the Sun itself to block it out.
A remote-controlled moon would be cool though.
- sbierwagen 16y agoYou wouldn't want to block the Sun out entirely. Indeed, you wouldn't want to reduce solar flux by more than 10%, or so.
- danparsonson 16y agoFrom the article: So, how do we block out the sun? If we go far enough out into space, then the projected distance of whatever we build would leave a larger shadow. Think of an eclipse where the moon blocks out the sun. If we go out farther, then we don't need to build a moon. (Although honestly, we need to build a moon and control it; how cool would that be). I was just replying to that. Obviously you wouldn't actually want to block out the sun completely, unless you were a Bond villian.