The Astronomers of NASA have just revealed that the coldest spot in the universe is on our Moon. NASA’s new Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is making the first temperature map of the moon. It found that at the moon’s South Pole, it’s colder than the far away Pluto.
The area is permanently shadowed and receives no Sun light.
"Diviner has recorded minimum daytime brightness temperatures in portions of these craters of less than -397 degrees Fahrenheit," said David Paige, Diviner's principal investigator and a UCLA professor of planetary science.
“What matters here is not the distance from the sun but the amount of radiation received by that particular spot and it’s no surprise that we may record even colder temperatures at the poles of Mercury “.says Alan Boss, of the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C.
1.High resolution thermal map of south Pole of the moon 2.Day time(left) and Night time temperatures in Kelvin recorded by the Diviner instrument on NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
The three craters where coldest temperatures where measured were Faustini, Shoe-maker and Harworth .This ultracold temperatures play a very important role in trapping volatile chemicals such as water, methane etc, and these trapped volatile chemicals would give any future astronauts resources to mine and could help scientists to understand more about the origin of the Solar System.
--Ratna Deep
