Sunday, 24 January 2010

Does the Moon have any oxygen in its atmosphere?

Just to add to GreenMatt's answer, according to the article "The Lunar Atmosphere: History, Status, Current Problems and Context" (Stern, 1999), the lunar atmosphere is in fact a tenuous exosphere, which the authors describe as being composed of




"independent atmospheres" occupying the same space.




This is further elaborated in "The Lunar Dusty Exosphere: The Extreme Case of an Inner Planetary Atmosphere" (NASA), that




in direct response to these intense and variable environmental drivers, the Moon releases a low density neutral gas forming a collisionless atmosphere. This ~100 tons of gas about the Moon is commonly called the lunar surface-bounded exosphere




There is also an ionosphere, due to (from the ANSA article):




Ions are also created directly either by surface sputtering or subsequent neutral photoionization, forming a tenuous exo-ionosphere about the Moon.




The authors also suggest that ionic oxygen may be present due to surface sputtering.



Due to solar radiation and the solar wind, dust particles become charged as well, and can be subsequently listed from the lunar surface.

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