Are enormous metal space whales possible?

Is the following scenario reasonable?

Enormous metal whales, which fly through space eating planets and nebulae by:

1. Churning with blender (like mastication), then
2. Melting them down in a furnace (like a stomach), followed by
3. Fractional distillation (like intestines), and finally
4. Using the resources to sustain itself.

It would have senses analogous to our own:

1. Smell/taste: Detect traces of useful material
2. Touch: Feel pressure, heat etc.
3. Sight: See stars and other celestial bodies using solar panel-like rods and cones
4. Hearing: Hear when in gaseous regions of space.

(See also my answer here.)

EDIT: Reading the answers and comments, and other questions, I have realised that such a large celestial body would end up with its own atmosphere, given that it would swallow planets, would have an extremely hot core and would probably rotate.

So it would need to regulate its temperature, fight mutation of its own "cells" and maintain what it can of its structure. It will move very slowly, on the cosmological scale, but live for huge periods of time. (Maybe this should be split but) Would it be better for the whale to have developed from a planet or large asteroid, in the sense that the planet now serves as the body of the organism. Like this suggestion:

Only, the organism would have penetrated the crust of the planet. So that holes in the surface act like pores, and coolant/blood would be needed to transfer heat away from vulnerable structures.

posted almost 9 years ago

Sam Reeve‭

1 reputation 1 0 0 0