>>11243865SPOILER: The surface temperature on Mercury's North Pole, which permanently faces opposite the Sun, is below 180° K (-137° F, -93.15° C), because Mercury is tidally locked.
This means Mercury, otherwise the second-hottest planet after Venus, and the closest to the Sun, has a spot where temperatures are lower than anywhere on Earth, precisely because of its tidal locking.
If the Earth stopped spinning or somehow got tidally locked, the side permanently at "night", would freeze over too. It doesn't because the air and water keep much of their warmth during night time until the new day cycle heats it up again.
This also explains why deserts, where the atmosphere has less moisture, have more extreme day-night temperature variations, than humid regions, since water retains heat better than air does.
Now please KYS, /pol/ autist.
