Does the Moon Make Cold Nights Colder? (13)

Introduction

One may think that when the nights are cold because there are not clouds, that the Moon actually makes it colder, because the Moon itself is cold. Well this post is a brief investigation of that thought.

Lunar Surface Temperature

Actually when it is a full Moon the Moon is receiving as much of the Sun’s rays as it possibly can and therefore the surface of the Moon heats up.

During a full Moon the surface temperature of the Moon actually rises to a level considerably higher than that of boiling point, to approximately 125°C. Therefore, the rays that are reflected off the Moon’s surface, and which come to the Earth, are actually somewhat warm and definitely not of a cooling down effect.

The dark side of the Moon however during full Moon has a surface temperature of 153°C.

Conclusion

So it seems that whenever the Moon is reflecting light to the Earth’s surface the Moon can not contribute a cooling down effect on the Earth. However during the times of a new Moon or no Moon it may be possible that the Moon could exert a very slight cooling effect.

End (13).