On the role of dust in the lunar ionosphere

T.J Stubbs; D.A Glenar; W.M Farrell; R.R Vondrak; M.R Collier; J.S Halekas; G.T Delory

doi:10.1016/j.pss.2011.05.011

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On the role of dust in the lunar ionosphere

Journal article

Peer reviewed

On the role of dust in the lunar ionosphere

T.J Stubbs, D.A Glenar, W.M Farrell, R.R Vondrak, M.R Collier, J.S Halekas and G.T Delory

Planetary and space science, Vol.59(13), pp.1659-1664

10/2011

DOI: 10.1016/j.pss.2011.05.011

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Abstract

Radio occultation measurements from the Soviet Luna 19 mission suggest that electron concentrations above the sunlit lunar surface can be significantly higher than that expected from either the photo-ionization of exospheric neutrals or any other well-known process. These measurements were used to infer the electron column concentrations above the lunar limb as a function of tangent height, which surprisingly indicated peak concentrations of ∼103cm−3 at ∼5km altitude. It has been speculated that electrically charged exospheric dust could contribute to such electron populations. This possibility is examined here using the exospheric dust abundances inferred from Apollo 15 coronal photographs to estimate the concentration of electrons produced by photo- and secondary emission from dust. These estimates far exceed the electron concentrations predicted by any other suggested mechanism, and are within a factor of ≈20 of those inferred from the Luna 19 measurements. It is possible that this discrepancy is due to an under-estimate in dust grain capacitances and/or the presence of much higher exospheric dust abundances during the Luna 19 measurements. These results suggest that electrons emitted from exospheric dust could be responsible for the Luna 19 measurements, and that this process could dominate the formation and evolution of the lunar ionosphere.

Apollo 15

Dust-electrons

Horizon glow

Luna 19

Lunar ionosphere

Moon

Radio occultation

Details

Title: Subtitle: On the role of dust in the lunar ionosphere
Creators: T.J Stubbs - University of Maryland, Baltimore County
D.A Glenar - New Mexico State University
W.M Farrell - Goddard Space Flight Center
R.R Vondrak - Goddard Space Flight Center
M.R Collier - Goddard Space Flight Center
J.S Halekas - Goddard Space Flight Center
G.T Delory - University of California, Berkeley
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Planetary and space science, Vol.59(13), pp.1659-1664
DOI: 10.1016/j.pss.2011.05.011
ISSN: 0032-0633
eISSN: 1873-5088
Publisher: Elsevier Ltd
Grant note: DOI: 10.13039/100000104, name: NASA, award: NNX08AM76G, NNX07AG10G, NNX08BA32G, NNX09AG78A
Language: English
Date published: 10/2011
Academic Unit: Physics and Astronomy
Record Identifier: 9984199672102771

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