Limits to the lunar atmosphere

Details Limits to the lunar atmosphere Limits to the lunar atmosphere

Feb 1991

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1991jgr....96.1351m&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research (ISSN 0148-0227), vol. 96, Feb. 1, 1991, p. 1351-1367.

Physics

80

Atmospheric Composition, Lunar Atmosphere, Regolith, Ultraviolet Spectra, Apollo Project, Lunar Limb, Solar Wind, Moon, Atmosphere, Spacecraft Observations, Apollo Missions, Ultraviolet, Wavelengths, Spectrometry, Abundance, Oxygen, Density, Lace Experiment, Comparisons, Farside, Ionization, Escape, Acceleration, Electric Field, Trapping, Water, Comets, Impact Effects, Volatiles, Surface, Regolith, Source, Earth-Based Observations, Ccge Experiment, Loms Instrument, Ions, Micrometeorites, Solar Wind, Sputter

Scientific paper

Apollo UV spectrometer experiment set limits on the density of oxygen of less than 500/cu cm, and the Apollo Lunar Atmospheric Composition Experiment data imply a value less than 50/cu cm above the subsolar point. These limits are surprisingly small relative to the measured value for sodium. A simple consideration of sources and sinks predicts significantly greater densities of oxygen. It is possible but doubtful that the Apollo measurements occurred during an epoch in which source rates were small. A preferential loss process for oxygen on the darkside of the moon is considered in which ionization by electron capture in surface collisions leads to escape through acceleration in the local electric field. Cold trapping in permanently shadowed regions as a net sink is considered and discounted, but the episodic nature of cometary insertion may allow formation of ice layers which act as a stabilized source of OH. On the basis of an assumed meteoroid impact source, a possible emission brightness of 50 R in the OH(A - X)(0,0) band above the lunar bright limb is predicted.

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