Hitting the Sun is HARD
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN links it as the quick explanation of why you cannot just throw things into the Sun.
What it is
A three-minute minutephysics video on the orbital mechanics of why crashing into the Sun takes far more energy than leaving the solar system.
Recommended by 1 HN commenters across 1 different months, 2019 to 2023.
What Hacker News said
Recommends whoopdedo · 2019-11 · on “NASA Flew Gas Detectors Above California, Found ‘Super Emitters’”
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] [this video]
Cites stcredzero · 2019-06 · on “NASA ‘Snoopy’ lunar module likely found 50 years after being jettisoned”
... wait, to throw it into the sun. Okay, nice try there! Everyone on HN should know the Canadarm can't achieve the approx 29 km/s needed to cancel orbital velocity around the sun in the vicinity of Earth. [this video] 'doh, you got a reaction out of me anyhow!
Cites EdSchouten · 2021-06 · on “A dwarf planet coming within 11 AU of the sun over the next 10 years”
It's apparently pretty hard to hit the Sun: [this 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.
Cites laserlight · 2023-02 · on “Mysterious object is being dragged into the black hole at the Milky Way’s center”
That's right, as explained in the following minutephysics video (3 minutes): Hitting the Sun is HARD. [this video]