The temperature of the moon had dropped due to the lockdown on Earth during the Corona period! Revealed in the study

New Delhi/Bengaluru: Indian researchers have found that the global Covid lockdown of 2020 had an impact on the Moon. A study was published in the peer-reviewed Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters. Our colleague Times of India has learned that an unusual drop in the surface temperature of the Moon was observed during the strictest lockdown of April-May 2020. K Durga Prasad and G Ambili of the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) have We analyzed nighttime surface temperatures at six different locations on the near side of the Moon – two locations on Oceanus Procellarum, Mare Serenitatis, Mare Imbrium, Mare Tranquillitatis and Mare Criseum. PRL Director Anil Bhardwaj said that this is an important work of our group. It is quite unique.

How to study?
Using data from NASA’s Chandrayaan (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter), researchers found that the Moon’s temperature during the lockdown months was consistently 8-10 degrees lower (8-10 Kelvin) than in other years. Prasad told Times of India that we actually analyzed 12 years of data, but to maintain uniformity in the study, we used data of seven years (2017 to 2023), three years before the lockdown year 2020 and The three years that followed.

Researchers believe that the Moon’s temperature decreased due to the reduction in radiation emanating from the Earth during the lockdown. As human activities were significantly reduced, emissions of greenhouse gases and atmospheric particles (aerosols) also decreased, resulting in less heat being trapped and released back into the Earth’s atmosphere.

significant changes in temperature
The researchers also observed considerable variation in temperatures across locations and years. The lowest total temperature was 96.2 K at Site-2 in 2020, while the highest total temperature was 143.8 K at Site-1 in 2022. Generally, 2020 saw the coldest temperatures at most locations, while 2021 and 2022 saw a notable warming trend as human activities resumed on Earth.

K Durga Prasad explained that the Moon acts as an amplifier of the Earth’s radiation signal. This unique global event provided us with a rare opportunity to see how changes in human activities on Earth could affect our nearest celestial neighbor. The research paper reads that since the Moon’s night-time surface activity has been observed during the Covid lockdown, Unusual decreases in temperature have been observed, so the effects of other possible factors such as solar activity and seasonal flow variations have also been examined. The results show that none of these factors have any impact on the observed signature, thus supporting our findings that this is solely due to the Covid lockdown.