Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufm.p51c1457g&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #P51C-1457
Physics
[6250] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Moon
Scientific paper
The Clementine mission included a six week lunar surface mapping phase between February and April 1994, with the spacecraft in an eccentric polar orbit with apoapsis near the subsolar point. A portion of some 25 Clementine orbits was also dedicated to limb pointing observations using the Star Tracker B navigation camera in an attempt to observe lunar horizon glow from exospheric neutral species (e.g., sodium) and/or dust. Images from Orbit 193 show conspicuous coronal-zodiacal light (CZL) above the limb of the Moon as well as reflected Earthshine from the surface. They also appear to show an excess brightness at the limb, which has been variously interpreted as possible forward scattering of sunlight by lunar exospheric dust, a possibility first suggested by Zook et al. (Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf. 26, 1577, 1995). We have analyzed the sequence of images from Orbit 193 using a combination of limb-fitting and parameterized CZL brightness models. Difference images show no obvious lunar horizon glow, i.e., no pronounced limb-correlated brightness component exists in this set of images. We are presently applying this differencing method to the entire set of limb observations acquired by the Clementine Star Trackers. A summary of our results will be presented, along with inferred upper-limits for lunar exospheric dust concentration at the time of the Clementine measurements.
Glenar David A.
Hahn Jinyong
Stubbs Timothy J.
Vondrak Richard R.
No associations
LandOfFree
Did Clementine Observe Lunar Horizon Glow? does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Did Clementine Observe Lunar Horizon Glow?, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Did Clementine Observe Lunar Horizon Glow? will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1498025