Fragile Lunar Temperature

When astronauts landed on the Moon in the 1970s, they left several instruments behind that continued to send data to the Earth. Among those instruments was a set of temperature probes bored into the surface that measured how heat travels through the lunar soil. The data from those instruments indicate a fragile lunar temperature.

Scientists had assumed that heat flows out from the Moon’s core, just as it does on Earth. The question was how fast it was flowing and was this due to residual heat in the core of the Moon or due to radioactive decay inside the Moon. They were amazed to discover that heat was flowing into the Moon instead of out of it.

Later measurements showed that the heat flow into the Moon only happened where the astronauts had been walking and where the rover drove. Scientists now agree that the footprints of the astronauts and the tracks of the rover compressed the lunar sediment which darkened the print. Sunlight was absorbed more efficiently in the darkened areas. Thus it was the absorption of sunlight which caused the elevated temperatures in the borehole and made it appear that it was a lunar feature. A detailed treatment of this research appeared in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets in May of 2018.

We are only beginning to understand how delicate the creation process is. The fragile lunar temperature indicates that a small variation can alter the end product of the process. God’s creation of the cosmos demanded incredible knowledge of all this and continues to sustain it today.

Our increase in knowledge further emphasizes the wonder expressed by David in Psalms 8:3-6: “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained, what is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that you visit him. For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and have crowned him with glory and honor. You made him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; you have put all things under his feet.”
–John N. Clayton © 2018