Your chances get a bit better if you're hoping to live on the moon. According to research from planetary scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, the moon has caves and pits where temperatures stay 63 degrees Fahrenheit, indicating the possibility of human habitation.

Even though many of the moon's surface goes from temperatures as high as 260 degrees in the day to as low as 280 degrees at night, the study says that stable spots can transform long-term habitation and the lunar exploration future.

The pits' shadowed places can protect humans from harmful elements like cosmic rays, solar radiation, and micrometeorites. And for perspective, a night or day on the moon is equal to a bit over 2 weeks on Earth. This makes long-term research and habitation hard with extremely cold and hot temperatures.

According to research, 16 of the more than 200 discovered pits are most likely from collapsed lava tubes, the tunnels that form from the crust or cooled lava. The study believes that overhangs inside the lunar pits can cause stable temperatures. Using pictures from NASA's Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment to ascertain the moon's pit fluctuations and surface temperatures, the study concentrated on a place about a football field size in part of the moon known as the Mare Tranquillitatis.

The researchers used modeling to examine the rock's thermal properties and the pit's lunar dust. The research was carried out by Tyler Horvath, a UCLA doctoral student and head of the research. Other research teams include UCLA professors of planetary science David Paige and Paul Hayne at the University of Colorado Boulder.

According to Paige in a UCLA press release, "Humans evolved living in caves, and to caves, we might return when we live on the moon."

We still face many challenges in creating a long-term human habitation on the moon

There are many challenges to creating a long-term human habitation on the moon, like providing enough oxygen and growing food. And the researchers clearly maintained that NASA doesn't have an immediate plan to create habitation or a base camp there.

However, it's still possible that humans could live on the moon. Exploring the moon and living there can be safer but facing death or being stuck in a cave isn't fun.

In a nutshell, scientists state that moon caves, lava tubes, and shaded pits have locations where temperatures fluctuate around 63 degrees Fahrenheit (or 17 degrees Celsius). For scientists, they may be excellent locations for explorers to work and live in the future.

References

NPR

WSAZ