The lunar swirl known as Reiner Gamma as viewed by the Clementine spacecraft. Credit: Naval Research Laboratory
Scientists are puzzled.
Our Moon is dotted with swirls, considered among the most puzzling features on the surface of the Moon. These bright, looping patterns are unlike anything seen in the solar system.
While the origin of the lunar swirls has been discussed for many years, a universally accepted explanation for their formation remains elusive.
Lunar swirls are optically bright, but often contain lanes of darker material. They are observed in both the maria and highlands of the Moon – on both the nearside and the farside.
But what are they?
Some researchers speculate that the swirls result from differential space weathering. Perhaps they are the result of solar wind electrons and protons. Still others speculate that the swirls are remnants of collisions with a cometary coma, disrupted comet fragments, or comet-related meteor swarms.
Workshop without Walls
The good news is that past and now-operating space missions orbiting the Moon offer new views of the lunar swirls – and at resolutions and wavelengths never before considered.
This information has the potential to provide new insights into swirl formation.
Recent advances in the study of lunar swirls are to be highlighted during a special “Workshop without Walls” to be convened in September.
Via Internet, scientists from around the world will delve into the lunar swirl phenomenon, made possible by using NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI) remote communications tools.
Co-conveners of the workshop on lunar swirls are: Sebastien Besse of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Maryland; Catherine Neish of The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, and Georgiana Kramer of The Center for Lunar Science and Exploration at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas.
By Leonard David