What happens to an unprotected body exposed to direct sunlight in orbit?
Answer
The sun-facing side bakes and dries intensely while the shadow side freezes.
In orbit, the environment is not uniformly cold; solar exposure dictates extreme temperature gradients. The side of the body directly facing the Sun absorbs intense solar energy, causing significant heating that bakes and desiccates the material exposed to the solar flux. Conversely, the side perpetually shadowed from the Sun experiences the near-absolute zero temperatures characteristic of deep space, leading to rapid and deep freezing. This differential exposure creates a body with two vastly different states existing simultaneously across its mass, highlighting that 'space' is a gradient rather than a singular thermal environment.
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