# The photon belt thing.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-photon-belt-thing/827742
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [January 14, 2019, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-photon-belt-thing/827742 "2019-01-14T16:37:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2019, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-photon-belt-thing/827742/1 "2019-01-14T16:37:07Z")
To begin with, the word “belt” implies a ring. Of photons? How were they supposed to stay in a belt? I realize light can be bent by gravity but wouldn’t it take a hellofa chunk of gravity to trap photons in an orbit.
> **[Is the earth about to enter the Photon Belt, causing the end of life as we...](https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/963/is-the-earth-about-to-enter-the-photon-belt-causing-the-end-of-life-as-we-know-it/)**
Dennis
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### Author:  [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2019, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-photon-belt-thing/827742/2 "2019-01-14T16:58:10Z")
I like the idea that entering a “photon belt” is going to give us three days of darkness.
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### Author:  [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2019, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-photon-belt-thing/827742/3 "2019-01-14T17:45:10Z")
If you’re going to invent astronomical phenomenon out of whole cloth, you can give it any properties you want.
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### Author:  [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2019, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-photon-belt-thing/827742/4 "2019-01-14T18:00:27Z")
Exactly. Light stays in the belt due to the power of narrativium.
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### Author:  [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2019, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-photon-belt-thing/827742/5 "2019-01-14T18:56:40Z")
I tried using a photon belt to hold up my pants but it was too light.
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### Author:  [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2019, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-photon-belt-thing/827742/6 "2019-01-14T18:56:54Z")
> [@Cecil](#):
>
> As a fallback, some New Agers are saying the photon belt won’t get here until 2011.
[The danger has passed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Southwest_blackout).
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2019, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-photon-belt-thing/827742/7 "2019-01-14T19:02:33Z")
The Hubble took pictures of it, look up and slightly to the left.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2019, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-photon-belt-thing/827742/8 "2019-01-14T19:08:31Z")
Not like Orion’s Belt, which is a complete waist of space. Not, impressed, I’d give it 3 stars.
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### Author:  [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2019, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-photon-belt-thing/827742/9 "2019-01-14T19:12:59Z")
If the photons are coming from our sun, then to form a belt (ring), they’d have to move into an area with a refractive index much higher than the vacuum of space. Glass is a good candidate, having an index of 1.52.
So it seems that we’re hurtling toward a crystal sphere.
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### Author:  [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2019, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-photon-belt-thing/827742/10 "2019-01-14T21:09:26Z")
> [@mixdenny](#):
>
> To begin with, the word “belt” implies a ring. Of photons? How were they supposed to stay in a belt? I realize light can be bent by gravity but wouldn’t it take a hellofa chunk of gravity to trap photons in an orbit.
In order for a [“photon belt”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photon_sphere) to exist, indeed, you need a compact object such as a black hole. It is true that if the Earth were to fall into a black hole it would cause some disruption to the ecosystem.
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### Author:  [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2019, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-photon-belt-thing/827742/11 "2019-01-14T21:51:14Z")
> [@Telemark](#):
>
> Not like Orion’s Belt, which is a complete waist of space. Not, impressed, I’d give it 3 stars.
Golf clap 2x.
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### Author:  [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2019, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-photon-belt-thing/827742/12 "2019-01-15T18:48:32Z")
At least 2x.
> [@furryman](#):
>
> I tried using a photon belt to hold up my pants but it was too light.
That one gets an ouch.😃