Lunar luminescence and the filling-in of Fraunhofer lines in moonlight

The filling-in of Fraunhofer lines in moonlight has been attributed to lunar luminescence. In order to test mechanisms proposed for this effect, measurements were made of the filling-in of the H-alpha line, the Na D doublet, and a number of lines near the doublet. The degree of filling-in was not correlated with wavelength in a way expected from a broadband luminescence, such as thermoluminescence. However, it was correlated with equivalent width of the Fraunhofer line, such that it increased as equivalent width decreased. This suggests that the Fraunhofer line filling at the moon's surface is caused by inelastic scattering of sunlight with a small wavelength shift, as for example, photon-phonon scattering.