A new study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters reveals that solar wind may not be the only source of ions that form water on the moon. Researchers show that the grains from the moon are flooded, meaning that even other planets can add water to their satellites. Water is common in space. It is found from the surface of Mars to the Jupiter mountains and Saturn’s rings, comets, asteroids and Pluto.
The moon would get water from the ‘wind’
Water has been found in clouds far removed from the solar system. Earlier, it was assumed that water was incorporated into these materials during the creation of the solar system. However, over time, there was evidence that water in space is common and far more dynamic. Various computer models have predicted that up to half of the moon’s surface water should evaporate and disappear at high-latitude areas at full moon time.
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The latest study of hydroxyl / water surface maps by Chandrayaan-1 Satellite Moon Mineral Water Mapper revealed that lunar surface water will not disappear in this magnetosphere protection period. Even though the Earth’s magnetic field was thought to prevent the sun’s wind from reaching the moon. However, researchers later discovered that this was never true.
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The researchers compared the time series of water surface maps before, during and after the magnetosphere movement and argued that lunar water could be replenished by currents of magnetospheric ions. These are called ‘Earth winds’. Later, Kaguya’s satellite confirmed that these ions that came from Earth were close to the moon.
Also, THEMIS-ARTEMIS satellite observations were used to visualize ion-specific features. Discover previous observations with a Kaguya satellite during a full moon of high concentrations of oxygen isotopes. These were released from the Earth’s ozone layer and established in lunar earth. Also, this was present with an abundance of hydrogen ions in the Earth’s exosphere.
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