Related papers: Earthshine as an Illumination Source at the Moon
With a sky brightness monitor in Xinglong station of National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC), we collected data from 22 dark clear nights and 90 lunar nights. We first measured the sky brightness variation with time in dark…
The origin and evolution of structure in the Universe could be studied in the Dark Ages. The highly redshifted HI signal between 30 < z < 80 is the only observable signal from this era. Human radio interference and ionospheric effects limit…
The Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment at Night (LuSEE-Night) is a project designed to investigate the feasibility of observing the Cosmic Dark Ages using an instrument on the lunar far-side. LuSEE-Night will measure the redshifted…
We use the GEANT4 Monte Carlo framework to calculate the gamma-ray albedo of the Moon due to interactions of cosmic ray (CR) nuclei with moon rock. Our calculation of the albedo spectrum agrees with the EGRET data. We show that the spectrum…
The electron fluxes at energies $E>$100\,keV are shown to be vanishing in the quiet time plasma sheet at geocentric distance of 60 Earth's radii (R$_E$) where the Moon traverses the magnetotail. Fluxes of energetic electrons up to…
The analysis of clouds in the earth's atmosphere is important for a variety of applications, viz. weather reporting, climate forecasting, and solar energy generation. In this paper, we focus our attention on the impact of cloud on the total…
The Sun is a source of high energy neutrinos (E > 10 GeV) produced by cosmic ray interactions in the solar atmosphere. We study the impact of three-flavor oscillations (in vacuum and in matter) on solar atmosphere neutrinos, and calculate…
The Red Planet has fascinated humans for millennia, especially for the last few centuries, and particularly during the Space Age. The nagging suspicion of extant Martian life is both fed by, and drives the many space missions to Mars and…
A redshifted 21 cm line absorption signature is commonly expected from the cosmic dawn era, when the first stars and galaxies formed. The detailed traits of this signal can provide important insight on the cosmic history. However, high…
Dust storms are common in arid zones on the earth and others planets such as Mars. The impact of dust storms on solar radiation has significant implications for solar power plants and autonomous vehicles powered by solar panels. This paper…
We address the thermal history of the Earth after the Moon-forming impact, taking tidal heating and thermal blanketing by the atmosphere into account. The atmosphere sets an upper bound of ~100 W/m^2 on how quickly the Earth can cool. The…
Above lunar crustal magnetic anomalies, large fractions of solar wind electrons and ions can be scattered and stream back towards the solar wind flow, leading to a number of interesting effects such as electrostatic instabilities and waves.…
Earth-based observations are complicated by the opacity of Earth's ionosphere at very low frequencies and strong man-made radio frequency interference. This explains long standing interest in building a low frequency radio telescope on the…
We have measured the gamma-ray emission spectrum of the Moon using the data collected by the Large Area Telescope onboard the Fermi satellite during its first 7 years of operation, in the energy range from 30 MeV up to a few GeV. We have…
The number of known transiting exoplanets is rapidly increasing, which has recently inspired significant interest as to whether they can host a detectable moon. Although there has been no such example where the presence of a satellite was…
Water ice is thought to be trapped in large permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) in the Moon's polar regions, due to their extremely low temperatures. Here, we show that many unmapped cold traps exist on small spatial scales, substantially…
Surface chemistry of airless bodies in the solar system can be derived from remote x-ray spectral measurements from an orbiting spacecraft. X- rays from planetary surfaces are excited primarily by solar x-rays. Several experiments in the…
A proof of concept for a frost detection imager using reflected starlight is presented; the limitations of this technique are explored experimentally. An ice-covered lunar surface is simulated inside a vacuum chamber, which is then…
The lunar surface has been exposed to the space environment for billions of years and during this time has accumulated records of a wide range of astrophysical phenomena. These include solar wind particles and the cosmogenic products of…
Understanding reflectance-related quantities for worlds enables effective comparative planetology and strengthens mission planning and execution. Measurements of these properties for Earth, especially its geometric albedo and phase…