If you have ever wondered how cold (or hot) it is on Earth's nearest cosmic neighbour, here's the answer.
The moon may seem like a cold, lifeless rock peering down on us from the heavens but, actually, it's not that cold - at least, not all the time. As on Earth, the temperature of the moon's surface changes depending on whether sunlight hits it - and the resulting temperature fluctuations can be quite dramatic.
"The temperature just wildly swings from extremely hot to extremely cold," John Monnier, a professor of astronomy at the University of Michigan, told Live Science. The moon's temperature can range from about minus 148 degrees Fahrenheit to over 212 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 100 degrees Celsius to over 100 degrees Celsius), Monnier said.
As Earth and the moon are roughly the same distance from the sun - about 93 million miles - it leads to the next question. Why are temperatures on the moon so wildly different from those on our home planet?
There are two main reasons. First, Earth has an atmosphere, which traps heat and maintains moderate, habitable temperatures. The moon, on the other hand, doesn't have an atmosphere, leaving it vulnerable to the full heat of the sun, says Monnier.
Earth also has vast oceans, which absorb and store energy from the sun and slowly release it at night. The rocky moon, by contrast, bakes or chills in light and shadow. What's more, a lunar day-night cycle approximates an Earth month, so its surface is exposed to light and darkness for longer periods.
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