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Mierkiewicz et al. 2006
Mierkiewicz, E.J., Line, M., Roesler, F.L. and Oliversen, R.J. (2006). Radial velocity observations of the extended lunar sodium tail. Geophysical Research Letters 33: doi: 10.1029/2006GL027650. issn: 0094-8276.

We report the first velocity resolved sodium 5889.950 ¿ line profile observations of the lunar sodium tail observed in the anti-lunar direction near new Moon. These observations were made on 29 March 2006, 27 April 2006 and 28 April 2006 from Pine Bluff (WI) observatory with a double etalon Fabry-Perot spectrometer at a resolving power of ~80,000. The observations were made within 2--14 hours from new Moon, pointing near the anti-lunar point. The average observed radial velocity of the lunar sodium tail in the vicinity of the anti-lunar point for the three nights reported was 12.4 km s-1 (from geocentric zero). The average Doppler width of a single Gaussian fit to the emission line was 7.6 km s-1. In some cases the line profile appears asymmetric, with excess lunar sodium emission at higher velocity (~18 km s-1 from geocentric zero) that is not accounted for by our single Gaussian fit to the emission.

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Abstract

Keywords
Planetary Sciences, Solar System Objects, Moon, Planetary Sciences, Solar System Objects, Instruments and techniques, Planetary Sciences, Comets and Small Bodies, Aurorae, airglow, and X-ray emission
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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