The Weirdly Nihilistic Reason Why Outer Space Is So Cold

Far outside our solar system and out past the distant reachers of our galaxy—in the vast nothingness of space—the distance between gas and dust particles grows, limiting their ability to transfer heat. There may be pockets of the universe where temperatures drop to 1 Kelvin above absolute zero, astronomer Jim Sowell of the Georgia Institute of Technology notes, but so far, the closest measurement to absolute zero has only been observed in laboratories here on Earth.