HR: 0800h
AN: SH12A-0859    [Abstracts]
TI: Response of the lunar alkali exosphere to plasma
AU: * Sarantos, M
EM: sarantos@astro.umd.edu
AF: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Heliophysics division, Code 670.0, Bldg 21, Greenbelt, MD 20771,
AU: * Sarantos, M
EM: sarantos@astro.umd.edu
AF: Dept of Astronomy, University of Maryland, Computer Science Bldg, College Park, MD 20742,
AU: Killen, R
EM: rkillen@astro.umd.edu
AF: Dept of Astronomy, University of Maryland, Computer Science Bldg, College Park, MD 20742,
AU: Sharma, A S
EM: ssh@astro.umd.edu
AF: Dept of Astronomy, University of Maryland, Computer Science Bldg, College Park, MD 20742,
AU: Slavin, J A
EM: James.A.Slavin@nasa.gov
AF: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Heliophysics division, Code 670.0, Bldg 21, Greenbelt, MD 20771,
AB: The response of the lunar exosphere to plasma when the Moon traverses the terrestrial magnetosphere is investigated. A published series of ground-based observations of the lunar sodium emission were obtained while Lunar Prospector was in orbit around the Moon (Potter et al., 2000), and the data of column density and temperature are correlated to LP in situ plasma measurements. Results from this analysis indicate that the variability of the observed column density correlates to the total electron flux measured by Lunar Prospector, which is a proxy for the ion sputtering flux. However, direct ion sputtering is found to be relatively inefficient and cannot explain the evident regulation of the total column by ions. We conclude that the efficiency of the photon- stimulated source is augmented by ion surface impact. Ion-enhanced PSD becomes the leading source of the exosphere in the magnetosheath and solar wind, while shielding of ions by the Earth's magnetosphere emphasizes release of sodium by impact vaporization
DE: 2780 Solar wind interactions with unmagnetized bodies
DE: 5405 Atmospheres (0343, 1060)
DE: 5421 Interactions with particles and fields
DE: 6250 Moon (1221)
SC: SPA-Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting