Lunar Surface Magnetic Fields and Their Interaction with the Solar Wind: Results from Lunar Prospector
R. P. Lin,
D. L. Mitchell,
*
D. W. Curtis,
K. A. Anderson,
C. W. Carlson,
J. McFadden,
M.
H. Acuña,
L. L. Hood,
A. Binder
The magnetometer and electron reflectometer experiment on the Lunar
Prospector spacecraft has obtained maps of lunar crustal magnetic
fields and observed the interaction between the solar wind and regions
of strong crustal magnetic fields at high selenographic latitude
(30°S to 80°S) and low (~100 kilometers) altitude. Electron reflection maps of the regions antipodal to the Imbrium and Serenitatis impact basins, extending to 80°S latitude, show that crustal magnetic fields fill most of the antipodal zones of those basins. This finding
provides further evidence for the hypothesis that basin-forming impacts
result in magnetization of the lunar crust at their antipodes. The
crustal magnetic fields of the Imbrium antipode region are strong
enough to deflect the solar wind and form a miniature (100 to several
hundred kilometers across) magnetosphere, magnetosheath, and bow shock
system.
R. P. Lin, Space Sciences Laboratory and Physics Department,
University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. D. L. Mitchell,
D. W. Curtis, K. A. Anderson, C. W. Carlson, J. McFadden, Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California,
Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. M. H. Acuña, NASA Goddard Space
Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA. L. L. Hood, Lunar and
Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. A. Binder, Lunar Research Institute, Gilroy, CA 95020, USA.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
mitchell{at}ssl.berkeley.edu
