Scattering function for energetic neutral hydrogen atoms off the lunar surface

Schaufelberger, A. ; Wurz, P. ; Barabash, S. ; Wieser, M. ; Futaana, Y. ; Holmstrom, M. ; Bhardwaj, A. ; Dhanya, M. B. ; Sridharan, R. ; Asamura, K. (2011) Scattering function for energetic neutral hydrogen atoms off the lunar surface Geophysical Research Letters, 38 . L22202_1-L22202_6. ISSN 0094-8276

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Official URL: http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2011/2011GL049362...

Related URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011GL049362

Abstract

The Sub-keV atom reflecting analyzer instrument on board the lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-1 provided a large number of measurements of lunar energetic neutral atoms (ENAs). These ENAs were formerly solar wind ions, which were neutralized and backscattered from the lunar surface. The angles under which the ENAs are scattered strongly depend on the solar wind ions' incidence angle, which corresponds to the solar zenith angle (SZA). Our large dataset provides us with a complete coverage of the SZA and almost complete coverage of the scattering angles. When combining all available measurements, four distinct features are discernible with SZA increase: amplitude decrease, less azimuthal uniformity, bigger ratio of sunward versus antisunward flux and shallower scattering. We analyzed more than 290'000 measurements and derived a mathematical description of the features and their dependencies on the SZA.

Item Type:Article
Source:Copyright of this article belongs to American Geophysical Union.
Keywords:Moon; Hydrogen; Scattering
ID Code:89697
Deposited On:30 Apr 2012 15:08
Last Modified:19 May 2016 04:10

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