{"id":329171,"date":"2025-11-23T22:39:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T02:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/?post_type=daily&p=329171"},"modified":"2025-11-28T13:46:42","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T17:46:42","slug":"expression-of-the-day-pan-out","status":"publish","type":"daily","link":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/lessons\/daily\/expression-of-the-day-pan-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Expression of the Day: Pan Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

This Company Plans To Sell Sunlight At Night<\/h3>\n

pan out<\/strong>: to develop in a good or successful way (People often use pan out with didn\u2019t, won\u2019t, or might not because it is most commonly used to say that a plan did not or might not succeed.)<\/p>\n

Thousands of lights brighter than the moon could soon appear in the sky if a new plan moves forward. Reflect Orbital, a small company in California, wants to put 4,000 giant mirrors in space to shine sunlight onto Earth at night. The light from each mirror could cover an area about 5 kilometers wide. The bright patches of light from these mirrors could be up to four times brighter than the full moon.<\/p>\n

The company says the extra light could help solar farms work after sunset and reduce city lighting. They hope to launch their first test satellite in 2026 and then build a full group of mirrors by 2030. Many experts doubt the plan will pan out<\/strong>. A satellite moves very fast around Earth, so each mirror can only shine on the same area for a few minutes. The engineering is also very complex. The mirror must open in space, stay steady, and point the light at a precise spot on Earth to be useful.<\/p>\n

Astronomers are strongly against the project. One scientist called it \u201ca terrible idea.” He said the bright light could block stars and make research difficult. Others say the mirrors could distract airplane pilots during takeoff or landing. Researchers also warn that moving bright spots can disturb wildlife and affect human sleep.<\/p>\n

The project has not been approved yet, and the debate is growing. Many people now fear that one small company could reshape the night sky for the whole world.<\/p>\n

Sample sentences<\/h5>\n

We planned a trip to the mountains, but the weather was bad, so it didn\u2019t pan out<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

She hoped her small business would grow, but it didn’t pan out<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

If my new invention pans out<\/strong>, I’ll never have to worry about money again.<\/p>\n

Origin<\/h5>\n

This expression began in the 1800s when people searched for gold in rivers. People used pans to wash river sand and search for gold. If gold stayed in the pan, the work \u201cpanned out,\u201d meaning it was successful.<\/p>\n

Read More:<\/p>\n

Controversial startup’s plan to ‘sell sunlight’ using giant mirrors in space would be ‘catastrophic’ and ‘horrifying,’ astronomers warn<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Company Plans To Sell Sunlight At Night<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4018,"featured_media":329174,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","class_list":{"0":"post-329171","1":"daily","2":"type-daily","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"js-lettering","8":"entry"},"better_featured_image":{"id":329174,"alt_text":"Image of a light beam from space lighting up a city at night.","caption":"","description":"","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":1280,"height":549,"file":"2025\/11\/pan-out.jpeg","filesize":168895,"sizes":{"medium":{"file":"pan-out-300x129.jpeg","width":300,"height":129,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":6003,"source_url":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pan-out-300x129.jpeg"},"large":{"file":"pan-out-1024x439.jpeg","width":1024,"height":439,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":52012,"source_url":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pan-out-1024x439.jpeg"},"thumbnail":{"file":"pan-out-150x150.jpeg","width":150,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":4122,"source_url":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pan-out-150x150.jpeg"},"medium_large":{"file":"pan-out-768x329.jpeg","width":768,"height":329,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":31428,"source_url":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pan-out-768x329.jpeg"},"free-lessons":{"file":"pan-out-200x132.jpeg","width":200,"height":132,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":4560,"source_url":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pan-out-200x132.jpeg"},"top-rated":{"file":"pan-out-300x198.jpeg","width":300,"height":198,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":9005,"source_url":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pan-out-300x198.jpeg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]}},"post":329171,"source_url":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pan-out.jpeg"},"yoast_head":"\nExpression of the Day: Pan Out - Deep English<\/title>\n<!-- Added by HTTrack --><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /><!-- /Added by HTTrack --> <meta name=\"description\" content=\"Expression of the Day: Pan Out Learn a new English idiom or slang term each day and practice it with our English AI Chatbot. It\u2019s free!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=index-276.html \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Expression of the Day: Pan Out - Deep English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Expression of the Day: Pan Out Learn a new English idiom or slang term each day and practice it with our English AI Chatbot. It\u2019s free!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/lessons\/daily\/expression-of-the-day-pan-out\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Deep English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-28T17:46:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pan-out.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"549\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/lessons\/daily\/expression-of-the-day-pan-out\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/lessons\/daily\/expression-of-the-day-pan-out\/\",\"name\":\"Expression of the Day: Pan Out - Deep English\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/lessons\/daily\/expression-of-the-day-pan-out\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/lessons\/daily\/expression-of-the-day-pan-out\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pan-out.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-24T02:39:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-28T17:46:42+00:00\",\"description\":\"Expression of the Day: Pan Out Learn a new English idiom or slang term each day and practice it with our English AI Chatbot. It\u2019s free!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/lessons\/daily\/expression-of-the-day-pan-out\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/lessons\/daily\/expression-of-the-day-pan-out\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/lessons\/daily\/expression-of-the-day-pan-out\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pan-out.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pan-out.jpeg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":549,\"caption\":\"Image of a light beam from space lighting up a city at night.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/lessons\/daily\/expression-of-the-day-pan-out\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Daily Dose\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/lessons\/daily\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Expression of the Day: Pan Out\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/\",\"name\":\"Deep English\",\"description\":\"for English Language Learners\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Expression of the Day: Pan Out - Deep English","description":"Expression of the Day: Pan Out Learn a new English idiom or slang term each day and practice it with our English AI Chatbot. It\u2019s free!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/lessons\/daily\/expression-of-the-day-pan-out\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Expression of the Day: Pan Out - Deep English","og_description":"Expression of the Day: Pan Out Learn a new English idiom or slang term each day and practice it with our English AI Chatbot. It\u2019s free!","og_url":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/lessons\/daily\/expression-of-the-day-pan-out\/","og_site_name":"Deep English","article_modified_time":"2025-11-28T17:46:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":549,"url":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pan-out.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/lessons\/daily\/expression-of-the-day-pan-out\/","url":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/lessons\/daily\/expression-of-the-day-pan-out\/","name":"Expression of the Day: Pan Out - Deep English","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/lessons\/daily\/expression-of-the-day-pan-out\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/lessons\/daily\/expression-of-the-day-pan-out\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pan-out.jpeg","datePublished":"2025-11-24T02:39:18+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-28T17:46:42+00:00","description":"Expression of the Day: Pan Out Learn a new English idiom or slang term each day and practice it with our English AI Chatbot. It\u2019s free!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/lessons\/daily\/expression-of-the-day-pan-out\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/lessons\/daily\/expression-of-the-day-pan-out\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/lessons\/daily\/expression-of-the-day-pan-out\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pan-out.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pan-out.jpeg","width":1280,"height":549,"caption":"Image of a light beam from space lighting up a city at night."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/lessons\/daily\/expression-of-the-day-pan-out\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Daily Dose","item":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/lessons\/daily\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Expression of the Day: Pan Out"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/","name":"Deep English","description":"for English Language Learners","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"three_min_vocabulary":[{"word":"pan out","explanation":"to develop in a good or successful way (People often use pan out with didn\u2019t, won\u2019t, or might not because it is most commonly used to say that a plan did not or might not succeed.)"}],"conv_questions":["Has there been a time in your life when something did not pan out the way you hoped?","How do you feel about very bright artificial lights in nature at night?","Should technology be used to extend daylight hours, or should nights stay dark?","Do you think private companies should be allowed to change the night sky?"],"url_min":"3min\/pan-out-resample.mp3","youtube1":"<iframe width=\"374\" height=\"664\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/joG_yQknkpw\" title=\"Ordering Sunlight at Night\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>","youtube2":"","youtube3":"","instagram":"","instagram2":"","instagram3":"","tiktok":"","tiktok2":"","tiktok3":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/daily\/329171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/daily"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/daily"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4018"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329171"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/daily\/329171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":329173,"href":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/daily\/329171\/revisions\/329173"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deepenglish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}