Moon's temperature.?

Question

What was the local moon temperature when astronaut's landed on moon. Local means - the temperature where they stayed until they returned to their space shuttle.

I am asking this question because I know that temperature on Moon goes to extremes; more than 100 degree celsius at noon time, where if we want to boil water we do not need artificial heat and water will boil automatically and also can cook food without fire. In the night temperature goes about minus170 degree celsius.

So what time of the day they were on the Moon? If they lived on moon at a period of the day which was a "tolerable range" say early morning or late evening time, then was there any urgency from their side to take off from moon again before the temperature goes to extremes?

I suppose there was a movie - where the astronauts land on an asteroid on night however they had to leave the asteroid before sun rise because with the sun rise the temperature would rise too much so that they would die immediateltly.

Answer 1

Your question implicitly suggests the concept of an ambient lunar temperature. There is none. The temperature of the Moon is the temperature of the surface only. There is no atmosphere, hence there is no ambient temperature. The temperature of the lunar surface can be dealt with by giving the astronauts thick rubber-soled boots, and that's precisely what they did. The incoming radiant heat from the Sun was dealt with by making the suit white to reflect most of the incoming radiation (yes, the suits are white for a reason, not just because it looks cool). They had more trouble keeping the astronauts cool because of their own body heat inside the sealed space suit than because of incoming solar radiation.

The lunar landings were scheduled for early morning on the Moon, but this was mainly so that the lighting conditions were favourable, with the terrain casting long shadows so the astronauts could see what they were landing on.

Answer 2

the astronauts scheduled their landings on the moon when the sun was 10 - 20 degrees in the sky so they wouldn't fry in the direct heat from the sun. It was of the utmost importance they took off at the scheduled time or else they would have to wait another month before they could try again. I believe the temps range from -100 to 220 F.

Answer 3

200 degrees F in the sun
-200 F in the shade

Answer 4

Orbital characteristics
Perigee: 363,104 km
0.0024 AU
Apogee 405,696 km
0.0027 AU
Semi-major axis: 384,399 km
0.00257 AU [1]
Eccentricity: 0.0549 [1]
Orbital period: 27.321582 d
27 d 7 h 43.1 min [1]
Synodic period: 29.530588 d
29 d 12 h 44.0 min
Avg. orbital speed: 1.022 km/s
Inclination: 5.145° to ecliptic [1]
(between 18.29° and 28.58° to Earth's equator)
Longitude of ascending node: regressing,
1 revolution in 18.6 years
Argument of perigee: progressing,
1 revolution in 8.85 years
Satellite of: Earth
Physical characteristics
Mean radius: 1,737.10 km
0.273 Earths [1]
Equatorial radius: 1,738.14 km
0.273 Earths
Polar radius: 1,735.97 km
0.273 Earths
Flattening: 0.00125
Circumference: 10,921 km (equatorial)
Surface area: 3.793×107 km²
0.074 Earths
Volume: 2.1958×1010 km³
0.020 Earths
Mass: 7.3477×1022 kg
0.0123 Earths [1]
Mean density: 3,346.4 kg/m³ [1]
Equatorial surface gravity: 1.622 m/s²
0.1654 g
Escape velocity: 2.38 km/s
Sidereal rotation period: 27.321582 d (synchronous)
Rotation velocity at equator: 4.627 m/s
Axial tilt: 1.5424° (to ecliptic)
6.687° (to orbit plane)
Albedo: 0.12
Surface temp.:
equator
85°N [5] min mean max
100 K 220 K 390 K
70 K 130 K 230 K

Apparent magnitude: –2.5 to –12.9 [2]
–12.74 (mean full moon)[3]
Angular diameter: 29.3′ — 34.1' [3][4]
Adjectives: lunar
Atmosphere [6][7]
Surface pressure: 10-7 Pa (day)
10-10 Pa (night)

Answer 5

-240 Fahrenheit in darkness, +250 F in the light.