Meteoritic influence on sodium and potassium abundance in the lunar exosphere measured by LADEE

Jamey R. Szalay; Mihály Horányi; Anthony Colaprete; Menelaos Sarantos

doi:10.1002/2016GL069541

Meteoritic influence on sodium and potassium abundance in the lunar exosphere measured by LADEE

Jamey R. Szalay, Mihály Horányi, Anthony Colaprete, Menelaos Sarantos

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) orbited the Moon for approximately 6 months, taking data with the Lunar Dust Experiment (LDEX), Ultraviolet-Visible Spectrometer (UVS), and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (NMS). Here we compare coincident LDEX measurements of meteoritic influx to exospheric column densities of Na and K derived by UVS. We report a strong correlation of exospheric potassium and meteoroid ejecta during the Geminids meteoroid shower, exhibiting a much stronger response than sodium. With the exception of the Geminids, we find a weak correlation between the sporadic meteoroid influx as measured by LDEX and exospheric density as measured by UVS.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	6096-6102
Number of pages	7
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	43
Issue number	12
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069541
State	Published - 2016
Externally published	Yes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Geophysics
General Earth and Planetary Sciences

Keywords

Dust
Exosphere
Moon

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10.1002/2016GL069541

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title = "Meteoritic influence on sodium and potassium abundance in the lunar exosphere measured by LADEE",

abstract = "The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) orbited the Moon for approximately 6 months, taking data with the Lunar Dust Experiment (LDEX), Ultraviolet-Visible Spectrometer (UVS), and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (NMS). Here we compare coincident LDEX measurements of meteoritic influx to exospheric column densities of Na and K derived by UVS. We report a strong correlation of exospheric potassium and meteoroid ejecta during the Geminids meteoroid shower, exhibiting a much stronger response than sodium. With the exception of the Geminids, we find a weak correlation between the sporadic meteoroid influx as measured by LDEX and exospheric density as measured by UVS.",

keywords = "Dust, Exosphere, Moon",

author = "Szalay, {Jamey R.} and Mih{\'a}ly Hor{\'a}nyi and Anthony Colaprete and Menelaos Sarantos",

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doi = "10.1002/2016GL069541",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "43",

pages = "6096--6102",

journal = "Geophysical Research Letters",

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T1 - Meteoritic influence on sodium and potassium abundance in the lunar exosphere measured by LADEE

AU - Szalay, Jamey R.

AU - Horányi, Mihály

AU - Colaprete, Anthony

AU - Sarantos, Menelaos

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) orbited the Moon for approximately 6 months, taking data with the Lunar Dust Experiment (LDEX), Ultraviolet-Visible Spectrometer (UVS), and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (NMS). Here we compare coincident LDEX measurements of meteoritic influx to exospheric column densities of Na and K derived by UVS. We report a strong correlation of exospheric potassium and meteoroid ejecta during the Geminids meteoroid shower, exhibiting a much stronger response than sodium. With the exception of the Geminids, we find a weak correlation between the sporadic meteoroid influx as measured by LDEX and exospheric density as measured by UVS.

AB - The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) orbited the Moon for approximately 6 months, taking data with the Lunar Dust Experiment (LDEX), Ultraviolet-Visible Spectrometer (UVS), and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (NMS). Here we compare coincident LDEX measurements of meteoritic influx to exospheric column densities of Na and K derived by UVS. We report a strong correlation of exospheric potassium and meteoroid ejecta during the Geminids meteoroid shower, exhibiting a much stronger response than sodium. With the exception of the Geminids, we find a weak correlation between the sporadic meteoroid influx as measured by LDEX and exospheric density as measured by UVS.

KW - Dust

KW - Exosphere

KW - Moon

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JO - Geophysical Research Letters

JF - Geophysical Research Letters

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Meteoritic influence on sodium and potassium abundance in the lunar exosphere measured by LADEE

Abstract

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Keywords

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