Hitting the Sun is HARD

minutephysics · 3M views · 2016-07-19 · 3:13

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Overview

A three-minute minutephysics video on the orbital mechanics of why crashing into the Sun takes far more energy than leaving the solar system.

On Hacker News

HN links it as the quick explanation of why you cannot just throw things into the Sun.

Recommended by 1 HN people across 1 months · HN mentions 2019–2023

Topics

Space exploration & spaceflight Fundamental physics

What people said

whoopdedo · 2019-11 · Recommendation
Another explanation[1] that shows how it's not just the cost of escaping Earth gravity (which is high enough already) but the delta-v required to de-orbit. It's easier to throw the garbage out of the solar system than it is to descend into the Sun. [1] [VIDEO]
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laserlight · 2023-02 · Reference
That's right, as explained in the following minutephysics video (3 minutes): Hitting the Sun is HARD. [VIDEO]
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EdSchouten · 2021-06 · Reference
It's apparently pretty hard to hit the Sun: [VIDEO] (Though that video mostly talks about small objects like rockets. Maybe it's a different story for dwarf planets?) That said... Keep in mind that this is about a dwarf planet orbiting the Sun. It's 11 AU out, so twice as far from the Sun as Jupiter is.
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Sources

Video by minutephysics, played through YouTube.

HN Library · Source license

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