I was just reading a blurb on Science Dailyabout the latest release of findings from NASA’s most recent lunar mission. I know, you’re probably wondering how they can release this information because THEY FAKET TEH MOON LANDIN, but they did it anyway, probably just to spite you.

Some of the findings are really interesting. One thing in particular struck me as amazing, given that I’ve just sat through a nasty few days of cold winter weather. And it was nasty. It hovered around the -25 Celsius mark (-13 Fahrenheit, a balmy 248 Kelvin) for the most part, but with a nasty wind that sort of bit through you and tore out your lungs. However, that doesn’t hold a candle to what they’ve been recording on the moon:

LRO’s Diviner instrument has discovered that the bottoms of polar craters in permanent shadow can be brutally cold. Mid-winter nighttime surface temperatures inside the coldest craters in the north polar region dip down to 26 Kelvin (416 below zero Fahrenheit, or minus 249 degrees Celsius). “These are the coldest temperatures that have been measured thus far anywhere in the solar system,” said David Paige, Diviner principal investigator at the University of California, Los Angeles. “These regions are cold enough to trap a wide range of compounds such as water, carbon dioxide, and organic molecules. There could be all kinds of interesting compounds trapped there.”

26 KELVIN? Yikes!

To me, the more interesting part of that of course is the possibility for trapped organic molecules. I’m fascinated by the work that NASA has been doing of late! There’s so much that we have to learn about the moon, so much we’re only just now figuring out thanks to their diligence. But the real question is, if the moon is made of cheese, where’d they get the cow?

Jim