Something strange happened when the Earth was gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, scientists say: the pandemic even affected the Moon, which cooled significantly.
According to a recent study, the pandemic has even affected the Moon. Researchers at the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad (India) observed that nighttime temperatures on the Moon’s surface dropped considerably at six observation sites on the visible side of the Moon.
The study has been published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters.
They suggest that this “abnormal decline” was caused by a sudden drop in radiation emitted by the Earth as human activity decreased during global lockdowns, thus limiting the amount of pollution and heat released by our planet at night.
“Therefore, our study shows that the Moon may have felt the effect of the lockdown caused by COVID-19, manifested by an abnormal drop in lunar surface temperatures at night during that period,” the researchers concluded.
The pandemic even affected the Moon!
The results suggest that studying the Moon’s temperature fluctuations could provide a “stable platform to investigate Earth’s radiation budget and climate change.” During the day, much of the sunlight is reflected back into space by the Earth’s atmosphere, with only a small portion being absorbed. The Moon is also bombarded by solar radiation during the day.
But at night, the situation is considerably different, as “the Moon receives radiation only from Earth, which can influence nighttime surface temperatures,” write Futurism.
Scientists have previously shown that nighttime temperatures can vary depending on the amount of radiation released by the Earth.
During the lockdowns of the COVID-19 era, human activities and pollution levels dropped significantly, thus providing a unique opportunity for researchers to study climate change.
The effect was so pronounced that an “abnormal drop” in nighttime temperatures on the Moon could be measured hundreds of thousands of kilometers away.
A unique way to study Earth’s climate change
This phenomenon could allow researchers to use the surface of the Moon as an ideal testing ground to study the effects of climate change on Earth.
“In this study, we took advantage of a rare and unique opportunity provided by the COVID-19 pandemic to conduct our research, a situation that may never happen again. These results may be confirmed in the future from lunar-based observatories, as some researchers have suggested,” the researchers wrote.
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Source: www.descopera.ro
