Transiting the Sun

[MikeH]

Er no, that's not the right picture.

I've fixed it

[KrazyHorse]

Is that a potato in the bottom right?

[Cort Haus]

Looks like a headless stick man running away from two flying snakes.

[Lorizael]

I already helped you out twice: once by telling you not to use perfie's numbers...

I suspected his numbers might be off, because intuitively (for all that's worth) I feel like the Sun should be occluded for significantly longer than his calculations showed. I have no idea if that's true, however.

...and once by explaining that the structure you invented is ridiculous, because its components do not describe free orbits.

Yes, but I didn't need help with that. The existence of the object is a conceit, but its properties need description.

[MikeH]

Looks like a headless stick man running away from two flying snakes.

That sounds like an easy to interpret dream.

[Lorizael]

[MikeH]

Yes, but I didn't need help with that. The existence of the object is a conceit, but its properties need description.

This is usually a good way to make a physicist consternated.

"Can you tell me what the properties of x would be?"
"x can't exist..."
"But what would it's properties be?"
"it can't exist... so how can it have any properties"
"but if it could exist..."
"then the laws of physics wouldn't apply so how can I tell what properties it would have?"

[MikeH]

This is still the best advice in the thread.

Just make up a number and have the tiny number of science nerds who work it out write about how wrong you were on the internet.

[Lorizael]

Properties is the wrong word, I suppose. The only thing I'm looking for here is the effect the object's shadow has on the Earth as it is described.

[MikeH]

Well as the individual bits are torn apart from each other by tidal forces and are quickly pulled into the sun to burn up, very little.

[Lorizael]

This is still the best advice in the thread.

I'm only looking for ballpark figures, something within the realm of plausibility for the object I've described. There will be no descriptions of the object down to the last decimal place.

[Lorizael]

Well as the individual bits are torn apart from each other by tidal forces and are quickly pulled into the sun to burn up, very little.

The assumption is that the object is stable and that it blocks the Sun. That's all a physicist needs to know to come up with an answer. It's not all a physicist needs to know to believe in the existence of the object, but I'm not going to spill all the details of that here.

[KrazyHorse]

I'm not going to bother looking up the numbers, but the totality time is 0.2 * 1 yr * r_sun / (pi * r_earthorbit)

The total transit time is 2 * (6^2/3) - 1 = 5.60 times that.

[The Mad Monk]

It would have the same effect as a very long night, if you include the time spent rotated away from the sun.

As a shot in the dark, an average 30 degree temperature drop wouldn't be outlandish.

[KrazyHorse]

perfie's ratio between the two is wrong, which is how I knew that either one or the other (or both) was wrong...