Coldest place in the solar system? Right nearby

Coldest place in the solar system? Right nearby

news.yahoo.com

WASHINGTON – Astronomers have found the coldest spot in our solar system and it may be a little close for comfort. It's on our moon, right nearby.

NASA's new Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is making the first complete temperature map of the moon. It found that at the moon's south pole, it's colder than far away Pluto. The area is inside craters that are permanently shadowed so they never see sun.

(visit the link for the full news article)

The article also talks about the presence of Hydrogen and other Gases and Believe that there might be Water in the form of Ice at the Poles. Water on Mars. Water on the Moon. Hmm. Hollow Moon, rings like a bell... Has a weak electromagnetic field.... only shows one Side... It is older than the Earth... AND has possibly the coldest spot in our solar system... Man, Our Moon is Cool. LOL Pun intended.

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 17-9-2009 by Manjushri Bodhisattva]

It's amazing how we don't have far to look to measure the extremes of our neighborhood.

Great find.

reply to post by Manjushri Bodhisattva


The moon rotates both of its sides to the sun just like every other planet and moon in the solar system.

Also, it is not older than the Earth. Most likely, it was once a part OF the Earth.

and most likely charon has craters where the light of the sun never enters either, the same stuff for most likely every other moon out there.

reply to post by JayinAR


Don't you find it strange though that we here on Earth only see the one side of the moon???

There isn't another moon like it in the solar system.

"Right here in our own backyard are definitely the coldest things we've seen in real measurements."

I reckon the south pole of Pluto (and just about any other spot which doesn't receive sunlight on any other body without enough atmosphere to transfer heat) would be at just about the same temperature. We just haven't measured the temperature of those places.

reply to post by mpriebe81


Weird things happen out there in space.
Actually, I think that the synchronistic orbits of the Earth and Moon could probably be explained through orbital mechanics when you consider that the moon was actually EJECTED from the Earth.

Makes sense in my undereducated mind, anyhow.

A weirder moon, IMO, is the one that orbits opposite of every other body in the solar system. Is that Phobos?

reply to post by mpriebe81


There are so other moons and objects that only show one side towards the planet they orbit!! It's just one of those things that people find it quite easy to say... I won't say it's all that common but it does happen... I think it's called being 'tidally locked'.

It's usually thought that that side of the object or moon is denser on that side.

Now looking at our moon that's not all that hard to believe - the side that faces us has all the impact creators on it - and they are all actually quite close in age - indicating that the moon got smashed over a short period and a lot of extra mass was added to that side - et viola! A tidally locked moon!!

reply to post by mpriebe81

Where on Earth did you get that information? Most of the larger moons in the Solar System are tidally locked to their planets and show only one face to them.
Tidal locking

[edit on 9/17/2009 by Phage]

Originally posted by Phage
I reckon the south pole of Pluto (and just about any other spot which doesn't receive sunlight on any other body without enough atmosphere to transfer heat) would be at just about the same temperature.

Something doesn't add up here, Phage.
If the southpole of the moon and of Pluto both aren't getting any sunlight then their must also be a northpole that is getting all the sunlight (most of the time)...couldn't heat radiation through the surface of the body cause a temperature difference??

If so i would suspect the moon not being the coldest place in our solar system...

Peace

ps: congratz on your birthday!!!!!!!! (bit late, i know!!)

[edit on 17/9/2009 by operation mindcrime]

reply to post by JayinAR

Both Saturn and Jupiter have a number of retrograde moons.

Originally posted by Phage

"Right here in our own backyard are definitely the coldest things we've seen in real measurements."

I reckon the south pole of Pluto (and just about any other spot which doesn't receive sunlight on any other body without enough atmosphere to transfer heat) would be at just about the same temperature. We just haven't measured the temperature of those places.

If we haven't measured the temperatures of thos places then how can you reckon things would be the same temperature?

reply to post by Phage


I had never heard that.
Thanks.

Also, I was forgetting that the moon is tidally locked. That I *do* remember reading about, it just escaped me.

I was thinking that the moon was in a synchronistic orbit because it was ejected from a rotating ball with the exact same force as the planet itself was producing through rotation.

Jeeze. Either way, I don't think the moon is older than the Earth.

I thought that the idea that the Moon was once part of the Earth was just that, an idea..or theory, and there are several of those, and none which satisfies everyone.

reply to post by operation mindcrime

The poles (both north and south) receive sunlight but because the angle of the sunlight is so low, there are craters in which the interior is constantly shadowed. Sorry, I left out the crater part but it was mentioned in the article.

But yes, I suppose a small amount heat gets transferred from the areas which do receive sunlight (though most if it is radiated back into space at night). That could be one reason it isn't even colder than it is. But the Moon has almost no axial tilt (1.5º) so those craters are always in shadow. The axis of Pluto is tilted at 122º so all parts of it eventually get exposed to sunlight (as weak as it is).

[edit on 9/17/2009 by Phage]

reply to post by DrumsRfun

Well, it can only be so cold. The temperature they measured on the Moon is only 62º degrees above absolute zero. And as the article says, the average temperature for Pluto is only 1º warmer than the craters on the Moon where they recorded that temperature. There isn't much reason to believe that there is going to be a very wide temperature variation on an (ex) planet way, way out there.


[edit on 9/17/2009 by Phage]

Originally posted by Phage



I reckon the south pole of Pluto (and just about any other spot which doesn't receive sunlight on any other body without enough atmosphere to transfer heat) would be at just about the same temperature. We just haven't measured the temperature of those places.

Well it depends on how you look at it. ESA's infrared space telescope ISO measures temperature on Pluto at a low of -235 degrees centigrade.But if you're actually talking about going there and physically taking the temperature I can think of a closer place that you couldn't take the temp. where the sun doesn't shine(Uranus) but can still figure out the temp. and be accurate.

reply to post by A por uvas

But because Pluto's orbit is pretty eccentric, the temperature does vary. In any case, it's freaking cold!

I think it means the average temperature on the Moon inside these craters, as elsewhere in the solar system the orbital angles ensure at least partial sunlight reaches the surface, however weak it is in the outer parts of the solar system. I'm sure there are other areas which are as cold, but not consistently over millions of years.

But who's to say there's areas we cannot determine temperatures accurately yet, i.e. Kuiper belt or Oort cloud - where distant asteroids or comets have orbital paths and spin rates which allow an even colder environment over an extremely long period of time.

And are inside craters considered the actual surface of the moon?? So does that mean we can not discount underneath surfaces of other moons, providing thermal vents don't produce a small heating effect at least.

[edit on 17-9-2009 by john124]