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AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Keywords

  • mini-magnetosphere
  • Moon
  • energetic neutral atoms

Index Terms

  • Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects: Moon
  • Planetary Sciences: Comets and Small Bodies: Magnetospheres
  • Planetary Sciences: Comets and Small Bodies: Interactions with solar wind plasma and fields
  • Planetary Sciences: Comets and Small Bodies: Surfaces
  • Planetary Sciences: Comets and Small Bodies: Instruments and techniques

Abstract

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 37, L05103, 4 PP., 2010
doi:10.1029/2009GL041721

First observation of a mini-magnetosphere above a lunar magnetic anomaly using energetic neutral atoms

Martin Wieser

Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna, Sweden

Stas Barabash

Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna, Sweden

Yoshifumi Futaana

Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna, Sweden

Mats Holmström

Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna, Sweden

Anil Bhardwaj

Space Physics Laboratory, Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, Trivandrum, India

R. Sridharan

Space Physics Laboratory, Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, Trivandrum, India

M. B. Dhanya

Space Physics Laboratory, Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, Trivandrum, India

Audrey Schaufelberger

Physikalisches Institut, University of Bern, Switzerland

Peter Wurz

Physikalisches Institut, University of Bern, Switzerland

Kazushi Asamura

Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Sagamihara, Japan

The Sub-keV Atom Reflecting Analyzer (SARA) instrument on the Indian Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft has produced for the first time an image of a lunar magnetic anomaly in backscattered hydrogen atoms. The image shows that a partial void of the solar wind, a mini-magnetosphere, is formed above the strong magnetic anomaly near the Crisium antipode. The mini-magnetosphere is 360 km across at the surface and is surrounded by a 300-km-thick region of enhanced plasma flux that results from the solar wind flowing around the mini-magnetosphere. The mini-magnetosphere is visible only in hydrogen atoms with energy exceeding 150 eV. Fluxes with energies below 100 eV do not show corresponding spatial variations. While the high-energy atoms result from the backscattering process, the origin of the low-energy component is puzzling. These observations reveal a new class of objects, mini-magnetospheres, and demonstrate a new observational technique to study airless bodies, imaging in backscattered neutral atoms.

Received 10 November 2009; accepted 19 January 2010; published 6 March 2010.

Citation: Wieser, M., S. Barabash, Y. Futaana, M. Holmström, A. Bhardwaj, R. Sridharan, M. B. Dhanya, A. Schaufelberger, P. Wurz, and K. Asamura (2010), First observation of a mini-magnetosphere above a lunar magnetic anomaly using energetic neutral atoms, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L05103, doi:10.1029/2009GL041721.

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