Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Sep 1999
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999dps....31.3803w&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #31, #38.03
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
We have made the first detections of the distant lunar sodium tail with an all-sky camera on the nights of August 21-22 and November 18-20, 1998. The lunar sodium tail represents the escaping component of the lunar sodium atmosphere, which is generated from the Moon's regolith by a combination of surface processes. On nights near new Moon, the sodium tail appears in the sky as a spot near the anti-solar point; the location and morphology of this spot are consistent with standard models of the Moon's atmosphere. We interpret the changing brightness of the spot from night to night using a new time-dependent model of the lunar atmosphere, and we find that the atomic sodium escape rate from the Moon temporarily increased by a factor of 2 to 3 during the most intense period of the 1998 Leonid meteor shower on November 16 and 17. This is the most significant meteor-related atmospheric enhancement yet observed, and it may help to quantify the contribution of micrometeor bombardment to the lunar atmosphere.
Baumgardner Jeff
Mendillo Michael
Smith Marcia S.
Wilson Jody K.
No associations
LandOfFree
Enhancement of the Moon's Sodium Tail Following the Leonid Meteor Shower of 1998. 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 Enhancement of the Moon's Sodium Tail Following the Leonid Meteor Shower of 1998., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Enhancement of the Moon's Sodium Tail Following the Leonid Meteor Shower of 1998. will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1556757