Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2010-11-19
Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 115, Issue A10, CiteID A10248, 2010
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
28 pages, 7 figures
Scientific paper
10.1029/2010JA015264
Significant proton fluxes were detected in the near wake region of the Moon by an ion mass spectrometer on board Chandrayaan-1. The energy of these nightside protons is slightly higher than the energy of the solar wind protons. The protons are detected close to the lunar equatorial plane at a $140^{\circ}$ solar zenith angle, i.e., ~50$^{\circ}$ behind the terminator at a height of 100 km. The protons come from just above the local horizon, and move along the magnetic field in the solar wind reference frame. We compared the observed proton flux with the predictions from analytical models of an electrostatic plasma expansion into a vacuum. The observed velocity was higher than the velocity predicted by analytical models by a factor of 2 to 3. The simple analytical models cannot explain the observed ion dynamics along the magnetic field in the vicinity of the Moon.
Asamura Kazushi
Barabash Stas
Bhardwaj Anil
Dhanya M. B.
Futaana Yoshifumi
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