Lue, Charles; Futaana, Yoshifumi; Barabash, Stas; Wieser, Martin; Bhardwaj, Anil; Wurz, Peter (2014). Chandrayaan-1 observations of backscattered solar wind protons from the lunar regolith: Dependence on the solar wind speed. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 119(5), pp. 968-975. AGU Publications 10.1002/2013JE004582
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We study the backscattering of solar wind protons from the lunar regolith using the Solar Wind Monitor of the Sub-keV Atom Reflecting Analyzer on Chandrayaan-1. Our study focuses on the component of the backscattered particles that leaves the regolith with a positive charge. We find that the fraction of the incident solar wind protons that backscatter as protons, i.e., the proton-backscattering efficiency, has an exponential dependence on the solar wind speed that varies from ~0.01% to ~1% for solar wind speeds of 250 km/s to 550 km/s. We also study the speed distribution of the backscattered protons in the fast (~550 km/s) solar wind case and find both a peak speed at ~80% of the solar wind speed and a spread of ~85 km/s. The observed flux variations and speed distribution of the backscattered protons can be explained by a speed-dependent charge state of the backscattered particles.
Item Type: |
Journal Article (Original Article) |
|---|---|
Division/Institute: |
08 Faculty of Science > Physics Institute > Space Research and Planetary Sciences |
UniBE Contributor: |
Wurz, Peter |
Subjects: |
500 Science > 530 Physics |
ISSN: |
2169-9097 |
Publisher: |
AGU Publications |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Cléa Serpollier |
Date Deposited: |
16 Apr 2015 09:28 |
Last Modified: |
05 Dec 2022 14:45 |
Publisher DOI: |
10.1002/2013JE004582 |
BORIS DOI: |
10.7892/boris.66768 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/66768 |
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