국내 최대 기계 및 로봇 연구정보

기술보고서

기술보고서 게시판 내용
타이틀	Sodium Atoms in the Lunar Exotail: Observed Velocity and Spatial Distributions
저자	Line, Michael R.;; Mierkiewicz, E. J.;; Oliversen, R. J.;; Wilson, J. K.;; Haffner, L. M.;; Roesler, F. L.
Keyword	ECLIPTIC;; EXOSPHERE;; H ALPHA LINE;; LUNAR SURFACE;; MOON;; RADIAL VELOCITY;; RADIATION PRESSURE;; SODIUM;; SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION;; VELOCITY DISTRIBUTION
URL	http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20110023043
보고서번호	GSFC.JA.5330.2011
발행년도	2011
출처	NTRS (NASA Technical Report Server)
ABSTRACT	The lunar sodium tail extends long distances due to radiation pressure on sodium atoms in the lunar exosphere. Our earlier observations determined the average radial velocity of sodium atoms moving down the lunar tail beyond Earth along the Sun-Moon-Earth line (i.e., the anti-lunar point) to be 12.4 km/s. Here we use the Wisconsin H-alpha Mapper to obtain the first kinematically resolved maps of the intensity and velocity distribution of this emission over a 15 x times 15 deg region on the sky near the anti-lunar point. We present both spatially and spectrally resolved observations obtained over four nights around new moon in October 2007. The spatial distribution of the sodium atoms is elongated along the ecliptic with the location of the peak intensity drifting 3 degrees east along the ecliptic per night. Preliminary modeling results suggest that the spatial and velocity distributions in the sodium exotail are sensitive to the near surface lunar sodium velocity distribution and that observations of this sort along with detailed modeling offer new opportunities to describe the time history of lunar surface sputtering over several days.