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Initial results for the north pole of the Moon from Mini-SAR, Chandrayaan-1 mission

Kirk, R. L.; Neish, C. D.; Butler, B. J. +27 more

We present new polarimetric radar data for the surface of the north pole of the Moon acquired with the Mini-SAR experiment onboard India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft. Between mid-February and mid-April, 2009, Mini-SAR mapped more than 95% of the areas polewards of 80° latitude at a resolution of 150 meters. The north polar region displays backscatte…

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

Barabash, Stas; Holmström, Mats; Futaana, Yoshifumi +7 more

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 m…