Space & Astronomy

The coronavirus pandemic changed the temperature of the Moon

By T.K. Randall
October 2, 2024

Image: Eugene Cernan on the Moon During the Apollo 17 Mission
Credit: Harrison Schmitt (1972) / (PD) NASA When millions of people across the world stayed at home at the height of the pandemic back in 2020, the lack of activity worldwide combined to produce some unusual and unexpected effects.

Now according to a new study, one of these effects was the cooling of the surface of the Moon.

Scientists at India's Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad noted that the nighttime lunar surface temperature had significantly decreased during the height of lockdown in 2020.

They determined that the most likely explanation for this "anomalous dip" was that the overall amount of heat and pollution produced by human civilization at night had reduced sufficiently enough to cause a notable drop in lunar surface temperature."Therefore, our study shows that the Moon has possibly experienced the effect of COVID-19 lockdown, visualized as an anomalous decrease in lunar night-time surface temperatures during that period," the researchers wrote.

Their findings are particularly interesting because they show just how much of an impact our activities here on Earth can actually have - even on other planetary bodies.

"In this work, we have utilized a rare and unique opportunity of COVID-19 to carry out our study, which may never occur again," the study authors wrote.

"It can also be further substantiated from Moon-based observatories in future as advocated by some researchers."

Source: Futurism

Tags: Moon, Coronavirus