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Dynamics of solar wind protons reflected by the Moon

Barabash, S.; Holmström, M.; Futaana, Y. +2 more

Solar system bodies that lack a significant atmosphere and significant internal magnetic fields, such as the Moon and asteroids, have been considered passive absorbers of the solar wind. However, ion observations near the Moon by the SELENE spacecraft show that a fraction of the impacting solar wind protons are reflected by the surface of the Moon…

Protons in the near-lunar wake observed by the Sub-keV Atom Reflection Analyzer on board Chandrayaan-1

Barabash, S.; Holmström, M.; Futaana, Y. +7 more

Significant proton fluxes were detected in the near-wake region of the Moon by an ion mass spectrometer on board Chandrayaan-1. The energy of these nightside protons is slightly higher than the energy of the solar wind protons. The protons are detected close to the lunar equatorial plane at a 140° solar zenith angle, that is, ∼50° behind the termi…