Turbofan,
heat can be transferred in a number of ways. Convection (air), conduction or... yup, radiation in the EM spectrum. If heat could not be transferred throught empty space through radiation we wouldn't have much use of that sun thing, would we? *grin*
The heat isn't radiated TO anything per se, just radiated. The probabilities dictate that most likely it will hit something or other eventually, otherwise it will just continue forever, helping to expand our universe at the speed of light.
Now I'll go back to trying to figure out what a "quadripole source of noise" is. *grin* I'm impressed.
Cheers,
/ft