Spectroscopy of Airless Bodies: (Solar) Wind and Water

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD

Investigators

Abstract

This project follows from the recent discovery, by three independent spacecraft, of evidence for either water-bearing or OH-bearing minerals on the surface of Earth's Moon. The PI and co-PI will perform groundbased near-infrared imaging and spectroscopic observations of a wide range of Solar System objects in order to study the spectral absorption features in the vicinity of 3 microns, generally interpreted to be indicators of water or OH. Their targets will include: the Moon, Mercury, near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, and other planetary satellites. With these observations, coupled with data already in hand and archival datasets, they will test the hypothesis that lunar water arises from surface interactions with the Solar wind by looking for a spectral dependence on surface temperature, illumination (phase) angle, and immersion of the body in a planetary magnetic field. The work is relevant both to geophysics and solar physics in its potential to constrain both solar wind properties and surface histories; an understanding of the origin of lunar water is also key to plans for human exploration of the Moon.