Observations of sodium in the tenuous lunar atmosphere

Details Observations of sodium in the tenuous lunar atmosphere Observations of sodium in the tenuous lunar atmosphere

Sep 1988

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1988georl..15.1141t&link_type=abstract

Geophysical Research Letters (ISSN 0094-8276), vol. 15, Sept. 1988, p. 1141-1144. Research supported by Whittaker Foundation.

Physics

53

Atmospheric Composition, D Lines, Lunar Atmosphere, Sodium, Abundance, Emission Spectra, Lunar Surface, Mercury Surface

Scientific paper

Spectra showing the sodium D lines above the Moon's bright limb (subsolar point) were obtained at first and last quarters, May 27 and June 7, 1988. The number density at the surface is 57±20 atoms cm-3 and the scale height is 79±8 km, compatible with the temperature of the surface. Comparison with the Mercurian density of 2.6×104atoms cm-3 reveals an enigma. Despite the apparent general similarity of the surfaces, the sodium densities are in a ratio of ≡400. The difference may be attributed to differences in source or loss mechanisms or to some fundamental compositional difference between the two planets. The possibility that the source is rapid diffusion of sodium through Mercury's crust and regolith is discussed as well as recent observational evidence that Mercury's regolith is of intermediate rock type and may be more sodium-rich than the Moon's.

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