Lunar Dust Fountain Observed Near Twilight Craters
2020; American Geophysical Union; Volume: 47; Issue: 23 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1029/2020gl089593
ISSN1944-8007
AutoresLianghai Xie, Xiaoping Zhang, Lei Li, Bin Zhou, Yiteng Zhang, Qi Yan, Yongyong Feng, Dawei Guo, Shuoran Yu,
Tópico(s)Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life
ResumoAbstract Lunar horizon glows observed by the Apollo missions suggested a dense dust exosphere near the lunar terminator. But later missions failed to see such a high‐density dust exosphere. Why the Apollo missions could observe so large number of dust grains remains a mystery. For the first time, we report five dust enhancement events observed by the Lunar Dust Experiment on board Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer mission, which happen near a twilight crater with dust densities comparable to the Apollo measurements. Moreover, the dust densities are larger on the downstream side of the crater and favor a higher solar wind temperature, consistent with an electrostatic dust lofting from the negatively charged crater floor. We also check the Apollo observations and find similar twilight craters, suggesting that the so‐called dust exosphere is not a global phenomenon but just a local electrified dust fountain near twilight craters.
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