If you were in a spacesuit in deep space, would smaller objects orbit around you?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ☠Poisonâ˜
  • Start date Start date
Â

☠Poisonâ˜

Guest
Like a rock or a wrench? Maybe you couldn't just let go of a rock and it would orbit you, but what if it passed you going slowly enough, would it begin to orbit you, or does orbiting require a larger discrepancy in mass, so then my question is, would dust orbit you in deep space? Theoretically of course, I realize you'd die in space sooner or later. By mentioning "deep space" I'm implying there are no more massive objects anywhere nearby.
 
only if no (and I mean for light years) other objects were near you, and if it was very small and close to you.

(A wrench would be too big, it would not have to be as small as the dust)

also realize it would be very slow (you would not realize it).
 
Assuming you were far enough away from a stronger source of gravity like your ship and whatever object was traveling slow enough, but unless you have a way of viewing it in time lapse it would probably just appear to remain stationary.

An example, If a 150 pound person were in deep space and a small bolt was 3 feet away from them, it would have an escape velocity of 0.00009524284750048163 meters per second (about one inch every 16 minutes). If it was traveling slower than that it would either orbit them or "fall" into them, faster and it would break orbit and head off into deep space.
 
Hi. Dust would follow the physical laws and, as long as it moved slowly enough, it would orbit anybody. (Pun intended!)
 
Back
Top