satellite imagery shows that the main building of the Bocharov Ruchey property in Sochi had been demolished in February and March, leaving a pit and construction equipment in its place.

Completed in 1955, Bocharov Ruchey is in the Tsentralny district of Sochi, and has played host to visits by numerous world leaders.

It is located around 160 miles south of what has been dubbed “Putin’s palace,” a $1 billion site which came to widespread public attention in 2021 in a film by the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s Anti Corruption Foundation (FBK).

Overall, the lunar night temperature difference was around 8–10 Kelvin. …

The reason for the dip, according to the team, is the amount of radiation received from the Earth. During the lunar night on the near side, the Moon receives its radiation as it is reflected off the surface of the Earth. As human activities changed, and fewer pollutants were put into our atmosphere, this had a knock-on effect, with less radiation reflected toward the Moon. And so, COVID-19 lockdowns appear to have, inadvertently, briefly made the surface of the Moon colder.