Abstract
Areas of lunar surface magnetic field are observed to ‘mirror’ low energy electrons present in the normal lunar space environment. The ambient electrons provide, in effect, a probe along the ambient magnetic field lines down to the lunar surface for remote sensing of the presence of surface fields. This probe, unlike direct measurement by the magnetometer, does not require low altitude or a very stable (magnetotail) ambient field to provide a mapping of regions of occurrence of such fields. Use of the on-board vector magnetometer measurements of the ambient magnetic field orientation allows accurate projection of such mapping onto the lunar surface. Preliminary maps of the lunar surface magnetic areas underlying the orbit of the ‘Particles and Fields Satellite deployed from Apollo-16’ have been generated, obtaining 40% coverage from partial data to demonstrate feasibility of the technique. As well as providing independent verification of areas such as Van de Graaff already discovered in the magnetometer data, these maps reveal many previously unreported areas of surface magnetism. The method is sensitive to fields of less than 0.1γ at the surface. Application to the full body of available PFS-1 & 2 electron data is expected to provide complete mapping of the lunar surface for areas of magnetization up to latitudes of 35–40 deg. The surface field regions observed are generally due to sources smaller than 10–50 km in size, although many individual regions are often so close together as to give much larger regions of effectively continuous mirroring. Absence of consistent mirroring by any global field places an upper limit on the size of any net lunar dipole moment of less than 1010 γ km3. Much additional information regarding the magnetic regions can be obtained by correlated analysis of both the electron return and vector magnetometer measurements at orbital altitude, the two techniques providing each other with directly complimentary measurements at the satellite and along the ambient field lines to the surface.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Anderson, K. A. and Lin, R. P.: 1969,J. Geophys. Res. 74, 3953.
Anderson, K. A., Chase, L. M., Lin, R. P., McCoy, J. E., and McGuire, R. E.: 1972,J. Geophys. Res. 72, 4611.
Anderson, K. A., Howe, H. C., Lin, R. P., McGuire, R. E., Chase, L. M., and McCoy, J. E.: 1974,Lunar Science V, Abstracts, 18.
Coleman, P. J., Lichtenstein, B. R., Russell, C. T., Sharp, L. R., and Schubert, G.: 1972,Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 36, 2271.
Dolginor, Sh. Sh., Eroshenko, E. G., Zhuzgov, L. N., and Pushkov, N. V.: 1966,Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 170, 574–577.
Dyal, Palmer, Parkin, Curtis W., and Cassen, Patrick: 1972,Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, Suppl. 3,36, 2287.
Howe, Herbert C., Lin, R. P., McGuire, R. E., and Anderson, K. A.: 1974,Geophys. Res. Letters 1, 101.
Schubert, G. and Lichtenstein, B. R.: 1974,Rev. Geophys. Space Sci. 12, 592–626.
Sharp, L. R., Coleman, P. J., Jr., Lichtenstein, B. R., Russell, C. T., and Schubert, G.: 1973,The Moon 7, 322.
Sonett, C. P., Colburn, D. S., Currie, R. G., and Mihalov, J. D.: 1967, in R. L. Carovillano, J. F. McClay and H. F. Radoski (eds.),Physics of the Magnetosphere, D. Reidel, Dordrecht, pp. 461–484.
Strangway, D. W., Larson, E. E., and Pearce, G. W.: 1970,Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, Suppl. 1,34, 2435.
Van Allen, J. A. and Ness, N. F.: 1969,J. Geophys. Res. 74, 71.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
McCoy, J.E., Anderson, K.A., Lin, R.P. et al. Lunar remnant magnetic field mapping from orbital observations of mirrored electrons. The Moon 14, 35–47 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00562971
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00562971