What is the Glow above the surface of the Moon.
There is a glow along the edge of the moon. The light is being scattered by something above the surface. Note that the corona bulges toward the bottom and there is a streamer (see below) along the vertical axis of the image. This necessarily eliminated the phenomenon known as the zodiacal light. Without spectrographic analysis it is only speculation, but I personally feel that water ions are a good candidate.
This is a section from the original Clem Image above. It has been colourized and brightened to show the banding and one lonely streamer. The banding are imaging artifacts but the outer band shows a distortion at the top. These are bands of different density as seen by the startracker camera. The distortion of the corona and the indication of a streamer would not indicate imaging artifacts. This is a real anomaly of the first order.
The Corona
For some time it has been known that there was a light scattering something
suspended over the surface of the moon. It has been variously described as
a glow, a corona, streamers, an aurora and probably some other terms of which
I am not aware. The Surveyors first photographed the corona and it was dismissed
as suspended dust or a photographic artifact. But as more and more reports
came back it could not be ignored. The Russians guessed that it was radon
gas due to the high natural radioactivity of the moon. The American view
was electrostatically suspended dust. Recent measurements indicate it extends
9000 Km from the lunar surface so dust is clearly ruled out. The bottom line
is we don't know what it is. I lean toward the idea that it is the ionic
reminants of the vapor clouds that occasion the moon after cometary strike.
But I don't have any hard data to support this view. More recent investigations
seem to indicate that constituent atoms of various elements are in suspension
around the moon.
Conclusion: Lunar prospector will measure the corona from about 100 Km above
the surface so its constituents will become known in 1997.
The support data follows:
/*** POINTERS TO START BYTE OFFSET OF OBJECTS IN FILE ***/
^IMAGE_HISTOGRAM = 4766 <BYTES>
^BROWSE_IMAGE = 5790 <BYTES>
^IMAGE = 9246 <BYTES>
/*** GENERAL DATA DESCRIPTION PARAMETERS ***/
MISSION_NAME = "DEEP SPACE PROGRAM SCIENCE EXPERIMENT"
SPACECRAFT_NAME = "CLEMENTINE 1"
DATA_SET_ID = "CLEM1-L/E/Y-A/B/U/H/L/N-2-EDR-V1.0"
PRODUCT_ID = "LBA0018V.066"
ORIGINAL_PRODUCT_ID = "LBA40017.065"
PRODUCER_INSTITUTION_NAME = "NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY"
PRODUCT_TYPE = EDR
EDR_SOFTWARE_NAME = "NRL-ACT-MGRAB V1.2"
MISSION_PHASE_NAME = "LUNAR MAPPING"
DATA_QUALITY_ID = "N/A"
TARGET_NAME = "MOON"
REVOLUTION_NUMBER = 066
FRAME_SEQUENCE_NUMBER = 0018
/*** TIME PARAMETERS ***/
START_TIME = 1994-03-05T21:07:59.399Z
STOP_TIME = "N/A"
UNCORRECTED_START_TIME = 1994-03-05T21:07:59.398Z
SPACECRAFT_CLOCK_START_COUNT = "N/A"
SPACECRAFT_CLOCK_STOP_COUNT = "N/A"
PRODUCT_CREATION_TIME = 1994-12-01T16:58:37
/*** CAMERA RELATED PARAMETERS ***/
INSTRUMENT_NAME = "B STAR TRACKER CAMERA"
INSTRUMENT_ID = "B-STAR"
FILTER_NAME = "N/A"
CENTER_FILTER_WAVELENGTH = "N/A"
BANDWIDTH = "N/A"
GAIN_MODE_ID = "4"
MCP_GAIN_MODE_ID = "N/A"
OFFSET_MODE_ID = "15"
EXPOSURE_DURATION = 199.9392 <ms>
LENS_TEMPERATURE = 268.01 <K>
FOCAL_PLANE_TEMPERATURE = 271.504 <K>
CRYOCOOLER_TEMPERATURE = "N/A"
CRYOCOOLER_DURATION = "N/A"
/*** OBSERVATIONAL GEOMETRY DATA. ***/
/*** LINE-OF-SITE ON CELESTIAL SPHERE: Angles in <deg> ***/
RIGHT_ASCENSION = 344.43 <deg>
DECLINATION = -10.67 <deg>
TWIST_ANGLE = 213.27 <deg>
RETICLE_POINT_RA = ( 344.60, 321.97, 344.23, 8.28)
RETICLE_POINT_DECLINATION = ( 13.86, -0.50, -35.20, -19.17)
/*** OBSERVATIONAL SEQUENCE INFORMATION ***/
SEQUENCE_TABLE_ID = "SEQ_ZOOK"
/*** TARGET PARAMETERS: Position <km>, Velocity <km/s> ***/
SC_TARGET_POSITION_VECTOR = ( 4095.3, -52.3, 658.2)
SC_TARGET_VELOCITY_VECTOR = ( -0.4244, -0.3666, 0.7833)
TARGET_CENTER_DISTANCE = 4148.2 <km>
/*** TARGET WITHIN SENSOR FOV: Angles in <deg> ***/
SLANT_DISTANCE = 3652.2 <km>
CENTER_LATITUDE = -29.54 <deg>
CENTER_LONGITUDE = 161.75 <deg>
HORIZONTAL_PIXEL_SCALE = 71.720 <km>
VERTICAL_PIXEL_SCALE = 24.600 <km>
SMEAR_MAGNITUDE = 0.04 <pixels>
SMEAR_AZIMUTH = 259.12 <deg>
NORTH_AZIMUTH = 100.32 <deg>
RETICLE_POINT_LATITUDE = ( 6.61,"N/A","N/A","N/A")
RETICLE_POINT_LONGITUDE = ( 115.72,"N/A","N/A","N/A")
/*** SPACECRAFT POSITION WITH RESPECT TO CENTRAL BODY ***/
SUB_SPACECRAFT_LATITUDE = -9.90 <deg>
SUB_SPACECRAFT_LONGITUDE = 99.05 <deg>
SPACECRAFT_ALTITUDE = 2410.8 <km>
SUB_SPACECRAFT_AZIMUTH = 160.51 <deg>
/*** SPACECRAFT LOCATION: Position <km>, Velocity <km/s> ***/
SPACECRAFT_SOLAR_DISTANCE = 148313787.0
SC_SUN_POSITION_VECTOR = (-143451110.5, 34551154.5, 14999200.6)
SC_SUN_VELOCITY_VECTOR = ( -6.6808,-26.2252,-12.2282)
/*** VIEWING AND LIGHTING GEOMETRY (SUN ON TARGET) ***/
SOLAR_DISTANCE = 148309886.1 <km>
SUB_SOLAR_AZIMUTH = 159.28 <deg>
SUB_SOLAR_LATITUDE = 1.44 <deg>
SUB_SOLAR_LONGITUDE = 261.20 <deg>
INCIDENCE_ANGLE = 98.93 <deg>
PHASE_ANGLE = 174.74 <deg>
EMISSION_ANGLE = 86.16 <deg>
LOCAL_HOUR_ANGLE = 17.69 <deg>
/*** LIGHTING GEOMETRY FROM SECONDARY SOURCE ***/
LIGHT_SOURCE_NAME = "EARTH"
LIGHT_SOURCE_DISTANCE = 379902.1 <km>
SUB_LIGHT_SOURCE_AZIMUTH = 177.24 <deg>
SUB_LIGHT_SOURCE_LATITUDE = -3.57 <deg>
SUB_LIGHT_SOURCE_LONGITUDE = 5.77 <deg>
LIGHT_SOURCE_INCIDENCE_ANGLE = 139.85 <deg>
LIGHT_SOURCE_PHASE_ANGLE = 71.96 <deg>
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