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Scientific paper
Jul 1996
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996hst..prop.6513s&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #6513
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Hst Proposal Id #6513 Solar System
Scientific paper
The study of the lunar atmosphere was revolutionized in the late 1980s whenPotter & Morgan (1988a) first detected neutral Na and K at emissionbrightnesses up to a few kilorayleighs. Because the atmospheric Na and K arederived from the surface, it has been suspected that other metal species alsoexist in the lunar atmosphere. Indeed, straightforward stoichiometry arguments,which correctly predict the observed Na/K ratio, suggest that more abundantsurface species, such as Si, Al, and Mg, should also populate the lunaratmosphere. These three species emit most strongly at mid-UV wavelengthslongward of the Apollo 17 UV spectrometer red cutoff (Feldman & Morrison 1991),but too far in the UV to be studied from the ground. Detections of one or allof these species would provide important new data about the composition of thelunar atmosphere, and open a new window into the processes that eject atomsfrom the lunar surface into the lunar atmosphere.We request 2-orbits for HRS and spectroscopy to search for Al, Si, and Mgatoms in the lunar atmosphere. The observations will be made guiding on gyros;FHSTs are not required. We do not need to point at or near the lunar surface;instead, we will take advantage of the 1000-1500 km lunar scale height to placethe apertures relatively far (i.e., 0.3-0.7 deg) from the Moon. No previous UVobservations of the lunar atmosphere have been made by HST. The anticipatedresults should also bear on studies of the exospheres at Mercury
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