What is the coldest known location in our Solar System?

Just because Pluto is the furthest from the sun doesn't mean the answer isn't a lot closer to home.


Asked by: Sasha Wright, Coventry

Until recently, Pluto had the distinction of being both the outermost planet and coldest known place. Now it’s neither, having been demoted from planet status in 2006 and last September (2009) losing its frosty reputation to somewhere much closer to home: the Moon. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter recorded a temperature of -240°C inside a crater at the Moon’s south pole, where the Sun has never shone. That’s 20°C colder than the surface of Pluto.

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