Mysterious moonlight caused by dust fountains

A bright crescent on the far side of the moon defied explanation until now


NASA
This is a picture of coronal and zodiacal light (CZL) taken with the Clementine spacecraft, when the sun was behind the moon. The white area on the edge of the moon is the CZL, and the bright dot at the top is the planet Venus.

by Zoe Macintosh
updated 7 minutes ago


When Apollo astronauts first rounded the far side of the moon, they were stunned to find a very bright crescent of light glowing on the horizon at sunset. And, just before sunrise, faint columns of light appeared shortly after the glow.

Now, a new model proposes that fountains of moon dust jet high into the sky and stay there, allowing sunlight to scatter and create glows not usually thought possible in such a tenuous atmosphere. The electrostatic properties of lunar dust have shifted scientists' attention to the moon's boundary of day and night, where a very strong electric field may kick dust high into orbit.

Falling and lifting again in cycles, the lunar dust could create a temporary atmosphere that travels across the moon with the moving boundary between night and day.

More: www.msnbc.msn.com...

Flagged. Some time ago, John Lear used to make a great deal of the light and dust, saying that there was a bona fide atmosphere on the Moon. I thought otherwise, and looks there is a reasonable explanation after all.

Water, oxigen and now atmosphere on the Moon.
At last, this want tell us something?

The who did what now?!?!

C'mon NASA stop the crap - open up and say AH!

Wow - is this a new image just released from the 90s? Anyone got a source number on that puppy, and a higher res image?

Seriously NASA you're almost there - can you just tell us all what we already know and stop stalling...

Originally posted by Arken
Water, oxigen and now atmosphere on the Moon.
At last, this want tell us something?

What atmosphere? And what is "oxigen"?

Originally posted by Arken
Water, oxigen and now atmosphere on the Moon.
At last, this want tell us something?

The fact that moon dust floats around the Moon high above its surface is not a new discovery. This has been known about for a long time now, but there are now new theories as to what is the mechanism that causes this.

Even though this dust and some trace elements caused by outgassing exist above the surface of the moon, it is still a virtual vacuum.

Originally posted by watchZEITGEISTnow
The who did what now?!?!``

Seriously NASA you're almost there - can you just tell us all what we already know and stop stalling...

I have seen a few photos before taken by the Clementine probe that showed the dust surrounding the moon being lit from behind. As I said above, the phenomenon has been known for a while, but there just happens to be a new potential explanation, hence the article.

Here is a web page with the image from the Lunar Planetary Institute, a group that was founded by NASA and supported by NASA:
www.lpi.usra.edu...
(image number 33; a link to a higher-res image is included)

I know I have seen other images and read articles of the Moon's tenuous "atmosphere" of dust particles (and some outgassing) before on NASA and Clementine websites, but the above link is on source for the photo in the OP.


EDIT TO ADD:
My point about this not being a new phenomenon in no way was meant to diminish the OP's post. I enjoyed the article in the post and found it interesting and useful.

The only point I was trying to make to other posters is that this is not a "newly-discovered atmosphere" nor a newly-released image. This particular article is not evidence of NASA holding back information.



[edit on 7/8/2010 by Soylent Green Is People]

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


Thanks for the link

..I wonder what they'll announce next...

Originally posted by watchZEITGEISTnow
reply to post by Soylent Green Is People

 

Thanks for the link

..I wonder what they'll announce next...

Next: "There is life on the Moon".

[edit on 9-7-2010 by Arken]

[edit on 9-7-2010 by Arken]

reply to post by Pauligirl


Written back in 2008 by plasma cosmologists:

Jun 11, 2008
Lunar Dust Levitation
www.thunderbolts.info...

The Earth is surrounded by a magnetic field that is trapped inside a cometary plasma tail that actually stretches well beyond the Moon's orbit. The Earth's magnetospheric tail points away from the Sun due to the high-speed ions streaming from the Sun.

The movement of the Moon through the ionized plasma affects the materials in the lunar regolith. Electrons accumulate and produce a negative charge on the ultra-fine dust particles, causing them to repel each other and drift off the surface.

Charge differential between the day and night side of the Moon might actually generate an ion “wind” flowing from the negatively charged night side into the more positively charged sunlit side. The negative charge on the bright surface during daylight is moderated by the photoelectric phenomenon, while it tends to build up in the darkness, forming static electricity. The charge variation between the two hemispheres has been measured at more than 1000 volts.

I find it humorous that mainstream papers are playing catch up with EU theory again. Its nice to see them finally acknowledging at least some form of current flow in space plasmas though, so I can't be too harsh on them.




some more:

Dec 21, 2007
Transient Lunar Phenomena
www.thunderbolts.info...
The Moon is dominated by gigantic circular structures where unusual luminous discharges have been observed. Are they indicative of past electrical events?


Lunar Charge Distribution
Apr 19, 2010
www.thunderbolts.info...