First observation of a mini-magnetosphere above a lunar magnetic anomaly using energetic neutral atoms

The Sub-keV Atom Reflecting Analyzer (SARA) instrument on the Indian Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft has produced for the first time an image of a lunar magnetic anomaly in backscattered hydrogen atoms. The image shows that a partial void of the solar wind, a mini-magnetosphere, is formed above the strong magnetic anomaly near the Crisium antipode. The mini-magnetosphere is 360 km across at the surface and is surrounded by a 300-km-thick region of enhanced plasma flux that results from the solar wind flowing around the mini-magnetosphere. The mini-magnetosphere is visible only in hydrogen atoms with energy exceeding 150 eV. Fluxes with energies below 100 eV do not show corresponding spatial variations. While the high-energy atoms result from the backscattering process, the origin of the low-energy component is puzzling. These observations reveal a new class of objects, mini-magnetospheres, and demonstrate a new observational technique to study airless bodies, imaging in backscattered neutral atoms. Citation: Wieser, M., S. Barabash, Y. Futaana, M. Holmstrom, A. Bhardwaj, R. Sridharan, M. B. Dhanya, A. Schaufelberger, P. Wurz, and K. Asamura (2010), First observation of a mini-magnetosphere above a lunar magnetic anomaly using energetic neutral atoms, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L05103, doi:10.1029/2009GL041721.