Surveyor Observations of Lunar Horizon-Glow

Details Surveyor Observations of Lunar Horizon-Glow Surveyor Observations of Lunar Horizon-Glow

Jun 1974

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1974moon...10..121r&link_type=abstract

The Moon, Volume 10, Issue 2, pp.121-142

Physics

60

Scientific paper

Each of the Surveyor 7, 6, and 5 spacecraft observed a line of light along its western lunar horizon following local sunset. It has been suggested that this horizon-glow (HG) is sunlight, which is forward-scattered by dust grains (~ 10µ in diam, ~ 50 grains cm-2) present in a tenuous cloud formed temporarily (≲ 3 h duration) just above sharp sunlight/shadow boundaries in the terminator zone. Electrically charged grains could be levitated into the cloud by intense electrostatic fields (> 500 V cm-1) extending across the sunlight/shadow boundaries. Detailed analysis of the HG absolute luminance, temporal decay, and morphology confirm the cloud model. The levitation mechanism must eject 107 more particles per unit time into the cloud than could micro meteorites. Electrostatic transport is probably the dominant local transport mechanism of lunar surface fines.

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