Lofted charged dust distribution above the Moon surface

2011 ◽  
Vol 59 (14) ◽  
pp. 1795-1803 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir Pines ◽  
Marianna Zlatkowski ◽  
Arnon Chait
2013 ◽  
Vol 79 (4) ◽  
pp. 405-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
SERGEY I. POPEL ◽  
LEV M. ZELENYI

AbstractFrom the Apollo era of exploration, it was discovered that sunlight was scattered at the terminators giving rise to “horizon glow” and “streamers” above the lunar surface. Subsequent investigations have shown that the sunlight was most likely scattered by electrostatically charged dust grains originating from the surface. A renaissance is being observed currently in investigations of the Moon. The Luna-Glob and Luna-Resource missions (the latter jointly with India) are being prepared in Russia. Some of these missions will include investigations of lunar dust. Here we discuss the future experimental investigations of lunar dust within the missions of Luna-Glob and Luna-Resource. We consider the dusty plasma system over the lunar surface and determine the maximum height of dust rise. We describe mechanisms of formation of the dusty plasma system over the Moon and its main properties, determine distributions of electrons and dust over the lunar surface, and show a possibility of rising dust particles over the surface of the illuminated part of the Moon in the entire range of lunar latitudes. Finally, we discuss the effect of condensation of micrometeoriod substance during the expansion of the impact plume and show that this effect is important from the viewpoint of explanation of dust particle rise to high altitudes in addition to the dusty plasma effects.


2014 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
pp. 629-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hitendra K. Malik ◽  
Rakhee Malik

An electron–positron pair plasma having dust impurity and density non-uniformity is studied for its unperturbed state and evolution of solitary structures under the effect of either positively charged or negatively charged dust grains. Zeroth-order equations are solved to examine the unperturbed state of the plasma via unperturbed potential φ0, drift velocities of the electrons and positrons (ve0 and vp0), and plasma (positron) density gradient np0η. It is observed that the dust distribution affects the gradient np0η significantly, which increases very sharply with a small increment in the dust density gradient nd0η. With relation to the solitary structures, a modified form of Korteweg–deVries equation (mKdV equation) is realized in the said plasma, which reveals that a tailing structure is associated with the soliton (sech2 structure). This tail is less prominent in the present pair plasma, contrary to the observation made in ordinary plasmas having only ions and electrons. The dust impurity is found to influence the solitary structure much significantly and its presence suppresses the rarefactive solitons, which are generally observed in multi-component species plasmas.


1973 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 1546-1552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Utpal K. De

1981 ◽  
Vol 24 (8) ◽  
pp. 2027-2028 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. K. Saha

Author(s):  
С.И. Копнин ◽  
С.И. Попель

This paper shows a possibility of the existence and propagation of dust acoustic solitons in plasmas of dusty exosphere of the Moon, which contains, in addition to electrons and ions of the solar wind and photoelectrons from the lunar surface, also charged dust particles, as well as photoelectrons emitted from the surfaces of these particles. Soliton solutions are found and the ranges of possible velocities and amplitudes of such solitons are determined depending on the height above the lunar surface for different subsolar angles.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oleg Shebanits ◽  
Jan-Erik Wahlund ◽  
Rebecca Perryman ◽  
Hunter Waite ◽  
Michele Dougherty

<p>Recent studies have shown that negatively charged dust dramatically alters the electric properties of plasmas, in particular planetary ionospheres. Utilizing Titan flybys from the entire Cassini mission and full plasma content of the moon’s ionosphere (electrons, positive ions and negative ions/dust grains) we derive the electric conductivities and currents, updating and extending previous results which did not include the charged dust and focused on a limited range of flybys.</p> <p>Compared to the previous estimates, using the full plasma content increases the Pedersen conductivities by a factor ~2 and Hall conductivities by a factor ~1.2. We identify dusty plasma as the reason for the sharp increase of Pedersen conductivity below 1000 km altitude reported previously. Using the full range of Titan flybys also reveals the conductivities on the dayside to be factor ~7-9 larger than on the nightside, owing to higher dayside plasma densities as well as generally heavier plasma species on the nightside.</p>


1983 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 610-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Utpal Kumar De ◽  
Dipankar Ray

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