The earth and the moon are basically the same distance from the sun yet temperatures on the moon average an unbelievable -18 Celsius and even deadlier they range from -170 Celsius during lunar night to 100 Celsius at lunar noon,regularly exceeding both the coldest and hottest temperatures ever recorded on Earth. and while the days and nights on the moon are about 14 times longer than those on earth our planets relatively fast rotation isn't what spares us from those loony temperatures.What protect us is our atmosphere.