Did Covid-19 Change Moon Temp? The Answer

Aakhir Tak – In Shorts

Researchers investigated whether Covid-19 changed the Moon’s temperature. A 2024 study claimed the pandemic caused lunar cooling. A new study challenges this claim. Researchers found the lunar temperature dip also occurred in 2018. They conclude the temperature changes can’t be directly linked to reduced human activity during Covid-19.

Aakhir Tak – In Depth

It became global headlines when researchers in a study claimed that the Covid-19 pandemic not only impacted Earth but also the Moon. The 2024 study claimed that the pandemic on Earth led to a cooling down of temperatures on the Moon, a rather intriguing proposition.

Researchers have now revisited the study to see if the sudden break in human activity on Earth led to the cooling down of the Moon in April and May of 2020, and they have a conclusion that challenges the initial findings.

Researchers from Missouri S&T and the University of West Indies (UWI) in St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago have challenged the findings in a new research published in Monthly Notices of Royal Astronomical Society. This new analysis provides a different perspective on the observed temperature changes.

They confirmed that there was an anomalous decrease in the lunar surface temperature during April- May 2020, however, this dip was also observed in 2018, long before Covid-19 invaded our lives. This discovery casts doubt on the direct link between the pandemic and lunar cooling.

“The decline to the minimum observed during April-May 2020 is seen to begin in 2019, that is, quite some time before the COVID-19 event that led to the global lockdown and the suggested anthropogenic effect of reduced pollution,” the researchers said in the paper. The timing of the temperature decline suggests other factors were at play.

They concluded that they “cannot attribute the effects of the observed changes in the lunar surface temperature during April-May 2020 directly and unambiguously to reduced human activity during the Covid-19.” This statement contradicts the conclusions of the earlier study.

The authors in the initial study last year used data from NASA’s Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to analyze lunar surface temperatures from 2017 to 2023, which led to them identifying a significant drop in temperature during the Covid-19 lockdowns. The new study suggests a need for reinterpretation of that data.

“We’re not disputing that the temperatures did go down at different times during the timeframe studied. But it seems to be a bit of a stretch to state with any certainty that human activity was the primary cause of this,” Dr. William Schonberg, a Missouri S&T professor of civil engineering said. This skepticism highlights the complexities of attributing such phenomena to specific events.

The team noted that during the Moon’s nighttime, there is a small possibility that heat and radiation from Earth might have a very small effect on the lunar surface temperatures, but, this influence would probably be so minimal that it would be difficult to measure or even notice. This suggests that even if there was some impact from Earth’s activities, it would be negligible.

Aakhir Tak – Key Takeaways to Remember

A new study challenges claims that Covid-19 changed the Moon’s temperature. The researchers found a similar temperature dip occurred before the pandemic. They conclude human activity reduction isn’t the definitive cause.

Aakhir Tak Editor-in-Chief

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