Coldest Place in the Solar System in South Pole Moon Craters

by Tina Kells | September 17, 2009 at 07:24 pm

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NASA's new Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has identified the coldest place in the solar system, and it isn't on far away Pluto but rather on our nearby moon. The coldest place in the solar system can be found in three craters on the south pole of the moon. Forever shielded from sunlight the insides of the south pole craters, Faustini, Shoemaker and Haworth, are never warmed and remain as cold as space.

The lowest temperature scientist believe is possible is 459 degrees below zero and the temperatures in the moon's three south pole craters were measures at 397 degrees below zero. By comparison, Pluto is thought to be at least a degree, and possible a few degrees, warmer. Faustini, Shoemaker and Haworth may be much closer to the solar systems source of heat, our Sun, but they are still colder than Pluto, which is the farthest object away.

"It's sort of like a faint glow and that's your only source of heat," said David Paige, a University of California, Los Angeles, scientist who is part of the NASA team. "Right here in our own backyard are definitely the coldest things we've seen in real measurements."

The coldest temperatures on the moon were usually in craters that were within bigger craters, hiding farther from the sun, Paige said. Three craters where the cold temperatures were noted were Faustini, Shoemaker and Haworth. And some of the coldest places are so remote and unexplored they don't even have names yet, he said.

Soon, the moon's south pole will slightly warm up with the change of seasons and the north pole will get chillier, he said.