Coronagraphic Observations of the Lunar Sodium Exosphere January-June, 2017
In order to observe the lunar sodium exosphere out to one-half degree around the Moon, we designed, built and installed a small robotically controlled coronagraph at the Winer Observatory in Sonoita, Arizona. Observations are obtained remotely every available clear night from our home base at Goddar...
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ftnasantrs:oai:casi.ntrs.nasa.gov:20190025174 2023-05-15T18:22:44+02:00 Coronagraphic Observations of the Lunar Sodium Exosphere January-June, 2017 Killen, Rosemary M. Plymate, Claude Morgan, Thomas H. Johnson, Jamil D. Potter, Andrew E. Tucker, Roy Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available March 16, 2019 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20190025174 unknown Document ID: 20190025174 http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20190025174 Copyright, Use by or on behalf of the U.S. Government permitted CASI Astronomy GSFC-E-DAA-TN68105 Icarus (ISSN 0019-1035) (e-ISSN 1090-2643); 328 152-159 2019 ftnasantrs 2019-06-01T22:50:24Z In order to observe the lunar sodium exosphere out to one-half degree around the Moon, we designed, built and installed a small robotically controlled coronagraph at the Winer Observatory in Sonoita, Arizona. Observations are obtained remotely every available clear night from our home base at Goddard Space Flight Center or from Prescott, Arizona. We employ an Andover temperature-controlled 1.5-angstrom-wide narrow-band filter centered on the sodium D2 line, and a similar 1.5-angstrom filter centered blueward of the D2 line by 3 angstroms for continuum observations. Our data encompass lunations in 2015, 2016, and 2017, thus we have a long baseline of sodium exospheric calibrated images. During the course of three years we have refined the observational sequence in many respects. Therefore this paper only presents the results of the spring, 2017, observing season. We present limb profiles from the south pole to the north pole for many lunar phases. Our data do not fit any power of cosine model as a function of lunar phase or with latitude. The extended Na exosphere has a characteristic temperature of about 22506750 degrees Kelvin, indicative of a partially escaping exosphere. The hot escaping component may be indicative of a mixture of impact vaporization and a sputtered component. Other/Unknown Material South pole NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) North Pole South Pole |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
op_collection_id |
ftnasantrs |
language |
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topic |
Astronomy |
spellingShingle |
Astronomy Killen, Rosemary M. Plymate, Claude Morgan, Thomas H. Johnson, Jamil D. Potter, Andrew E. Tucker, Roy Coronagraphic Observations of the Lunar Sodium Exosphere January-June, 2017 |
topic_facet |
Astronomy |
description |
In order to observe the lunar sodium exosphere out to one-half degree around the Moon, we designed, built and installed a small robotically controlled coronagraph at the Winer Observatory in Sonoita, Arizona. Observations are obtained remotely every available clear night from our home base at Goddard Space Flight Center or from Prescott, Arizona. We employ an Andover temperature-controlled 1.5-angstrom-wide narrow-band filter centered on the sodium D2 line, and a similar 1.5-angstrom filter centered blueward of the D2 line by 3 angstroms for continuum observations. Our data encompass lunations in 2015, 2016, and 2017, thus we have a long baseline of sodium exospheric calibrated images. During the course of three years we have refined the observational sequence in many respects. Therefore this paper only presents the results of the spring, 2017, observing season. We present limb profiles from the south pole to the north pole for many lunar phases. Our data do not fit any power of cosine model as a function of lunar phase or with latitude. The extended Na exosphere has a characteristic temperature of about 22506750 degrees Kelvin, indicative of a partially escaping exosphere. The hot escaping component may be indicative of a mixture of impact vaporization and a sputtered component. |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
Killen, Rosemary M. Plymate, Claude Morgan, Thomas H. Johnson, Jamil D. Potter, Andrew E. Tucker, Roy |
author_facet |
Killen, Rosemary M. Plymate, Claude Morgan, Thomas H. Johnson, Jamil D. Potter, Andrew E. Tucker, Roy |
author_sort |
Killen, Rosemary M. |
title |
Coronagraphic Observations of the Lunar Sodium Exosphere January-June, 2017 |
title_short |
Coronagraphic Observations of the Lunar Sodium Exosphere January-June, 2017 |
title_full |
Coronagraphic Observations of the Lunar Sodium Exosphere January-June, 2017 |
title_fullStr |
Coronagraphic Observations of the Lunar Sodium Exosphere January-June, 2017 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Coronagraphic Observations of the Lunar Sodium Exosphere January-June, 2017 |
title_sort |
coronagraphic observations of the lunar sodium exosphere january-june, 2017 |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20190025174 |
op_coverage |
Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available |
geographic |
North Pole South Pole |
geographic_facet |
North Pole South Pole |
genre |
South pole |
genre_facet |
South pole |
op_source |
CASI |
op_relation |
Document ID: 20190025174 http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20190025174 |
op_rights |
Copyright, Use by or on behalf of the U.S. Government permitted |
_version_ |
1766202145598603264 |