THE TEMPERATURE OF SPACE
Reading edition
The Earth is warmed by the sun’s rays, some of which are absorbed, while some are reflected. But these rays themselves possess no “heat”; they are merely minute vibrations in the ether. Heat is only present when they strike some solid body. Consequently the vast inter-stellar spaces are tremendously cold—probably at or about absolute zero (-273.10°C). Our earth is not heated directly, as a man is heated by standing in front of a blazing fire; but only by means of electro-magnetic undulations, which traverse millions of miles of space, colder than death, without heating them!