…would it make sense to scan for him using infrared?
The reason I ask is because there was a Voyager episode where Paris and Kim were on the surface of a Y-class planet, which in Star Trek speak means a planet that is hostile to humans in every way. (They were in spacesuits.) The surface temp was 500 degrees Kelvin (about 440 Fahrenheit). And when they lost contact, Captain Janeway ordered Tuvok to “scan the infrared”.
Isn’t that kind of like spitting at a hurricane?
I would think that would be pretty pointless, partly because there are going to be lots of things emitting in the infrared in a hot place like that, and partly because, being Star Trek, they ought to have something far better than that (albeit completely fictional) available to use.
The only thing that occurred to me is that the air inside their space suits would be cooler than the rest of the place, thus standing out as blue (or whatever color represents coolness). But then, wouldn’t the inside of the suit be inaccessible to such short wavelengths?
In order for the inside to stay cool, the suit must be throwing heat away, so it might actually appear hotter than its surroundings (which I guess would be detectable by scanning in the IR, at a push).
