Physics
Scientific paper
Mar 1973
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1973moon....7..202c&link_type=abstract
The Moon, Volume 7, Issue 1-2, pp. 202-238
Physics
1
Scientific paper
It is suggested that boundary conditions for solar wind/lunar limb interactions are active. The ‘whole-Moon’ limb does not evoke a shock cone because warm (≃13 eV/electron) solar wind electrons are replaced by cool (≲2 eV/electron) photoelectrons that are ejected from the generally smooth areas of the lunar terminator illuminated at glazing angles by the Sun. A localized volume of low thermal pressure is created in the solar wind by these cool photoelectrons. The solar wind expands into this turbulence-suppressive volume without shock production. Conversely, directly illuminated highland areas exchange hot photoelectrons (> 20 eV/electron) for warm solar wind electrons. The hot electrons generate a localized pressure increase (Δp) in the adjacent solar wind flow which evokes a shock streamer in the solar wind. Shock streamers are identifiable by a coincident increase in the magnitude (ΔB ˜ Δp) of the solar wind magnetic field immediately external to the lunar wake. Shock occurrence is controlled by lunar topography, solar activity in the hard ultraviolet (> 20 eV), solar wind electron density and thermal velocity, and the intensity of the solar wind magnetic field.
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