Our Sun emits light, heat, high-energy radiation and electrically charged particles into space that constantly bombard the Moon, which has no atmosphere or magnetic field. What effect does that torrent of energy have on its surface?
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00:00How does radiation from the Sun affect the Moon?
00:10Our Sun emits not only light and heat, it also sends high-energy gamma and X-rays out
00:17into space, along with a stream of electrically charged particles we call the solar wind.
00:25Unlike Earth, the Moon has no magnetic field or atmosphere, so radiation from the Sun and
00:32the solar wind bombard its surface constantly.
00:36When the Sun shines, the Moon's surface quickly heats up to around 130 degrees Celsius, where
00:43their shadow temperatures fall to minus 160 degrees.
00:49The extreme temperature swings cause stress to build up in the lunar soil, and tremors
00:55can occur.
00:57Cracks form as the rock crumbles into dust.
01:00The entire Moon is covered in it, in some places up to 15 meters high.
01:07And this dust has sharp edges, posing a danger to both technology and astronauts.
01:17Radiation from the Sun and the solar wind also change the chemical composition of the
01:22Moon's surface.
01:24They can give rise to tiny nanoparticles of iron in the lunar dust, making it darker
01:30and reddish over time.
01:33This process has been studied with probes in lunar orbit.
01:37They show that in the bright highlands, which are exposed to lots of sunlight, the rock
01:42weathers much more quickly.
01:46When the solar wind grows powerful, its electrically charged particles can also knock atoms out
01:53of the lunar rock and blow them into space.
01:56The Moon can then lose as much as 200 tons of material in just a couple of days.
02:04The solar particles can also cause water to form in the rock, and then break it down again.
02:11And in the polar regions, where the solar wind only grazes the surface, craters can
02:16even grow electrically charged.
02:19Radiation and particles from the Sun will present a major challenge to Moon exploration.