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We have applied computer stereophotogrammetry to Apollo Lunar Surface Closeup Camera (ALSCC) pictures of the lunar surface to construct the first-ever digital topographic relief maps of undisturbed lunar soil over spatial scales from 85 μm to 8.5 cm. Using elevation histograms, fractal analysis, and Hapke's photometric roughness model we show that Apollo 14 (Fra Mauro) Imbrium ejecta is rougher than...
A 1953 telescopic photograph of a flash on the Moon is the only unequivocal record of the rare crash of an asteroid-sized body onto the lunar surface. We estimate that this event would create an impact feature up to several km in size and that the diameter of the impacting body would be about 20 m. Such an event would cause regional devastation if it occurred on Earth. Although not detectable with...
The 5-band Clementine UVVIS data at ~100 m/pixel were used to examine the compositions of 75 large and small lunar pyroclastic deposits (LPDs), and these were compared to representative lunar maria and highlands deposits. Results show that the albedo, spectral color, and inferred composition of most LPDs are similar to those of low-titanium, mature lunar maria. These LPDs may have consisted largely...
A self-gravitating, elastic, spherical thick shell model is used to derive the present state of the lateral variations of density and stress differences within the lunar lithosphere. The model is allowed to deform under the load of an initial surface topography and internal density distribution, such that the resulting deformed body gives rise to the observed surface topography and gravity specified...
Clementine and photographic data sets have been used to investigate the crustal stratigraphy and geology of King crater on the lunar farside (120 o E, 5.5 o N). Pre-existing topographic regimes or stress fields dominate many structures in the crater, which has excavated materials from depths of up to 14 km. The upper crust in the area is noritic anorthosite, grading to a more anorthositic...
We show that plowing of the lunar and mercurian regoliths by dense meteoroid swarms (the remnants of degassed comet nuclei) can be considered as the most probable mechanism of swirl formation. Frequently discussed mechanical and thermal effects of coma gas in cometary encounters with the Moon or Mercury are shown to be negligible as compared to those of the impact of a compact cometary nucleus. The...
A comparison of the photometric properties of Mercury and the Moon is performed, based on their integral phase curves and disk-resolved image data of Mercury obtained with the Swedish Vacuum Solar Telescope. Proper absolute calibration of integral V-band magnitude observations reveals that the near-side of the Moon is 10–15% brighter than average Mercury, and 0–5% brighter for the “bolometric” wavelength...
Replicating prebiotic polymers are thought to predate the emergence of true life-forms. The initial mode of replication, a prerequisite for Darwinian selection, is unknown, but demands an explanation based on local physicochemistry. Dual consideration of the conditions of the early terrestrial surface, with the unusual physicochemical properties of nucleic acids like DNA, could explain the emergence...
We report recent results in an investigation of source mechanisms for the origin of Na atoms in tenuous planetary atmospheres, focusing on non-thermal processes. Experiments include photon stimulated desorption (PSD), electron stimulated desorption (ESD), and ion sputtering of Na atoms from the surface of a lunar basalt sample. Bombardment of the sodium covered surface by 3 keV Ar + ions removes...
Though the Moon is considered to have been formed by the so-called giant impact, the mass of the Earth immediately after the impact is still controversial. If the Moon was formed during the Earth's accretion, a subsequent accretion of residual heliocentric planetesimals onto the protoearth and the protomoon must have occurred. In this co-accretion stage, a significant amount of lunar-impact-ejecta...
Results of about 100 hydrodynamic simulations of potential Moon-forming impacts are presented, focusing on the ''late impact'' scenario in which the lunar forming impact occurs near the very end of Earth's accretion (Canup and Asphaug, 2001, Nature 412, 708-712). A new equation of state is utilized that includes a treatment of molecular vapor (''M-ANEOS''; Melosh, 2000, in: Proc. Lunar Planet. Sci...
Utilizing the largest available data sets for the observed taxonomic (Binzel et al., 2004, Icarus 170, 259-294) and albedo (Delbo et al., 2003, Icarus 166, 116-130) distributions of the near-Earth object population, we model the bias-corrected population. Diameter-limited fractional abundances of the taxonomic complexes are A-0.2%; C-10%, D-17%, O-0.5%, Q-14%, R-0.1%, S-22%, U-0.4%, V-1%, X-34%. In...
The part of a planet's gravity that is coherent with its topography provides information about the deflection of its crust after loading, and hence the resistance of its lithosphere to bending at the time the load was emplaced. We used observed line of sight accelerations from Lunar Prospector, together with the accelerations we would have expected if anomalies in the gravity field were only caused...
The dynamics of synchronous rotation and physical librations are revisited in order to establish a conceptually simple and general theoretical framework applicable to a variety of problems. Our motivation comes from disagreements between the results of numerical simulations and those of previous theoretical studies, and also because different theoretical studies disagree on basic features of the dynamics...
A 10-km diameter crater named Zunil in the Cerberus Plains of Mars created ∼107 secondary craters 10 to 200 m in diameter. Many of these secondary craters are concentrated in radial streaks that extend up to 1600 km from the primary crater, identical to lunar rays. Most of the larger Zunil secondaries are distinctive in both visible and thermal infrared imaging. MOC images of the secondary craters...
We show that the fast tidal cycling postulated by Lathe [Lathe, R., 2004. Icarus 168, 18–22] is not a plausible mechanism to explain the origin of life on Earth about 3.9 Ga ago. The value of LOD at this remote epoch was probably comprised between 15 to 17 h, and the Earth–Moon distance was only about 20% smaller than nowadays, implying that the tidal frequencies and amplitudes were not so dramatically...
The south polar region of the Moon contains areas permanently shadowed from solar illumination, which may provide cold traps for volatiles such as water ice. Previous radar studies have emphasized the search for diagnostic polarization signatures of thick ice in areas close to the pole, but near-surface regolith properties and regional geology are also important to upcoming orbital studies of the...
Tidal cycling has been causally implicated at the origin of life, but the speed of early tides has not been established. The rotation period of the Earth is the dominant parameter, and a length of day (LOD) of under 6 h at 3.9 Ga was inferred by regression from present values [Lathe, R. 2004. Icarus 168, 18–22]. However, this would imply critical lunar proximity at that time; in their commentary Varga...
In this study we examine the spectral and morphometric properties of the four important lunar mare dome fields near Cauchy, Arago, Hortensius, and Milichius. We utilize Clementine UV–vis multispectral data to examine the soil composition of the mare domes while employing telescopic CCD imagery to compute digital elevation maps in order to determine their morphometric properties, especially flank slope,...
Published data for global impact rate of bolides are compared with the cratering rate on the Moon in the past 100 Ma (assumed to be constant). The comparison shows, that in the limits of used models accuracy, the current meteoroid flux in the Earth–Moon system is approximately the same as in the last 100 Ma, provided most of the small (D<200 m) craters counted on the young (⩽100 Ma) lunar surface...
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