3 ms·
I wonder what effect this would have had on the sun itself — not like blowing in a fire, apparently.
by mlhpdx 2y ago
I wonder what effect this would have had on the sun itself — not like blowing in a fire, apparently.
- kadoban 2y agoVanishingly close to no effect at all. It's hard to have an effect on something you could throw planets at without harm.
- itishappy 2y agoNone! The Sun has a forcefield called the heliosphere to protect it, and this protects the planets as well. This paper is arguing that the interstellar medium may have been dense enough to shrink the heliosphere to within the orbit of some planets, but it'd take a helluva lot more to shrink it down to the Sun's surface. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliosphere https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliosphere
- mlhpdx 2y agoI understand, but given the dramatic change I'd expect some things to "bend" a little. Perhaps literally, like solar flares? Does "holding them closer" increase/decrease surface temperature?
- itishappy 2y agoFair enough, I'm sure "none" is a slight exaggeration. Two effects I could see (but have no source for) are: 1. A slightly increased return radiation due to the increased proximity of the heliopause and the the increased collision rate with the denser interstellar medium. The radiation from this should reach the surface of the Sun and slightly increase surface temps, but this effect would be dwarfed by the amount of radiation already coming from the Sun itself. 2. A tighter coupling of the Sun's magnetism to the stellar wind and interstellar magnetic field. This would slow down the Sun's rotation slightly, and it if increased differential rotation it could cause an increase in solar flare activity.