Magnetic Bubbles on the Moon Reveal Evidence of "Sunburn"

View of 'deluxe' model with camera in fixed position. Fades from schematic view showing underground dipole field sources (blue and yellow arrows), induced electric field (red arrows) and magnetic field (gold curves) to a view with Reiner Gamma region of moon. Solar protons (blue) rain down on lunar surface with enhanced accumulation near dipoles. View of 'deluxe' model with camera in slow move. Fades from schematic view showing underground dipole field sources (blue and yellow arrows), induced electric field (red arrows) and magnetic field (gold curves) to a view with Reiner Gamma region of moon. Solar protons (blue) rain down on lunar surface with enhanced accumulation near dipoles. View of basic model with camera in fixed position. Shows induced electric field (red arrows) and magnetic field (gold curves) co-registered with LRO image of Reiner Gamma region of moon. Solar protons (blue) rain down on lunar surface with enhanced accumulation near dipoles. View of basic model with camera making slow move. Shows induced electric field (red arrows) and magnetic field (gold curves) co-registered with LRO image of Reiner Gamma region of moon. Solar protons (blue) rain down on lunar surface with enhanced accumulation near dipoles. Basic 2-D animated plot of data from this simulation showing magnetic field (blue curves), lunar surface (grey band at bottom), buried dipoles (blue dots on ground), solar wind protons raining down (orange tracks) with some reflected (changing to yellow). A thin band at the lunar surface darkens as particle impacts accumulate. Much of the Moon's darker-colored 'mare' regions are considered to be older than the lighter-colored mountainous regions. Yet the maria contain a number of ligher-colored regions, such as Reiner Gamma. Why could that be? Many of these lighter regions in the maria appear to correspond to locations of magnetic anomalies which provides a hint for testing various hypotheses.It is known that the influx of free protons from the solar wind will darken the lighter lunar material. This visualization is created from a particle simulation which illustrates how a local magnetic field may create regions of reduced and enhanced solar proton flux which can lighten and darken (respectively) the underlying lunar material. Related pages

Beginning with a full-globe view of the lunar near side, the camera flies to a close-up, increasingly oblique view of the lunar swirl called Reiner Gamma. Narrated by LRO Deputy Project Scientist Noah Petro. Music provided by Killer Tracks: Facing the Truth — TV Mix by Eric Chevalier. Datos captados por el Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter fueron utilizados en la creación de esta visualización de Reiner Gamma — un remolino lunar. Este vídeo fue narrado por Nayi Castro Líder Técnica Diputada de el Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Música proporcionada por Killer Tracks: Eric Chevalier, Facing the Truth — TV Mix. Beginning with a full-globe view of the lunar near side, the camera flies to a close-up, increasingly oblique view of the lunar swirl called Reiner Gamma. Beginning with a full-globe view of the lunar near side, the camera flies to a close-up, increasingly oblique view of the lunar swirl called Reiner Gamma. This version omits the title text. Lunar swirls are bright, often sinuous features with the diffuse appearance of abstract airbrush paintings. They are unique to the Moon and have long defied easy explanation. Five papers recently published in Icarus (1, 2, 3), JGR: Space Physics (4), and JGR: Planets (5) use a combination of computer modeling and the data gathered by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and other recent lunar missions to shed new light on the origin of these unusual surface decorations.Reiner Gamma, a bright patch amid the otherwise dark Oceanus Procellarum mare, is perhaps the most spectacular example of a lunar swirl. Through backyard telescopes near full Moon, it looks like a small figure-8 on its side. LRO's view from orbit reveals tendrils and daughter swirls that extend for several hundred kilometers.The animation zooms up on an LRO wide-angle camera mosaic of Reiner Gamma, then tilts the view to show that this large swirl is entirely two-dimensional — it's not a mountain range or a valley, but instead looks painted onto the surface. The narrated videos are available in both English and Spanish. For More InformationSee [NASA Research Gives New Insights into How the Moon Got 'Inked'](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/lunar-swirls) Related pages