Abstract
We have recently obtained the first velocity resolved sodium D2 (5889.950 Å) line profile observations of the extended lunar sodium tail observed in the anti-lunar direction within 2-18 hours from new Moon. These observations were made in March, April, and September, 2006 from Pine Bluff (WI) Observatory (PBO) with a double etalon Fabry Perot spectrometer. The PBO Fabry-Perot is coupled to a siderostat with a circular 1.5 degree field-of-view on the sky, and samples a 75 km/s spectral interval with 3.5 km/s spectral resolution at 5890 Å.
The average observed radial velocity of the lunar sodium tail in the vicinity of the anti lunar point was 12 km/s from geocentric zero; the average Doppler width of a single Gaussian fit to the emission line was 8 km/s. Our current work involves mapping the spatial distribution of this emission over an 8 degree field on the sky using a grid of observations with steps of 6 minutes in right ascension (α) and 1.5 degrees in declination (δ). In this poster we will present recent data and a series of channel maps which highlight the kinematic distribution of the 5889.950 Å emission in 4 km/s velocity slices.
| Original language | American English |
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| State | Published - Jan 2007 |
| Externally published | Yes |
| Event | 209th American Astronomical Society Meeting, Joint Meeting with the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) - Seattle, WA Duration: Jan 1 2007 → … |
Conference
| Conference | 209th American Astronomical Society Meeting, Joint Meeting with the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) |
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| Period | 1/1/07 → … |
Keywords
- Lunar sodium tail
- Moon
Disciplines
- Astrophysics and Astronomy