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Evidence for a Dynamic Nanodust Cloud Enveloping the MoonThe exospheres that surround airless bodies such as the Moon are tenuous, atmosphere-like layers whose constituent particles rarely collide with one another. Some particles contained within such exospheres are the product of direct interactions between airless bodies and the space environment, and offer insights into space weathering processes. NASAs Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission studied the Moons exospheric constituents in situ and detected a permanent dust exosphere1 of particles with radii as small as 300 nm. Here we present evidence from LADEE spectral data for an additional fluctuating nanodust exosphere at the Moon containing a population of particles sufficiently dense to be detectable via scattered sunlight. We compare two anti-Sun spectral observations: one near the peak of the Quadrantidmeteoroid stream, the other during a period of comparativelyweak stream activity. The former shows a negative spectralslope consistent with backscattering of sunlight by nanodustgrains with radii less than 20 to 30 nm; the latter has a flatterspectral slope. We hypothesize that a spatially and temporallyvariable nanodust exosphere may exist at the Moon, and thatit is modulated by changes in meteoroid impact rates, suchas during encounters with meteoroid streams. The findingssuggest that similar nanodust exospheresand the particle ejection and transport processes that form themmay occurat other airless bodies.
Document ID
20170002391
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Wooden, D. H.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA United States)
Cook, A. M.
(Millennium Engineering and Integration Co. Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Colaprete, A.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Glenar, D. A.
(Maryland Univ. Baltimore, MD, United States)
Stubbs, T. J.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Shirley, M.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
March 21, 2017
Publication Date
August 15, 2015
Publication Information
Publication: Nature Geoscience
Publisher: Macmillan Publishers Limited
Volume: 9
Issue: 9
ISSN: 1752-0894
e-ISSN: 1752-0908
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN40230
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNG06EO90A
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNA13AC87C
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
Moon
Nanodust
Dynamic

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