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Volume 60 Supplement 1

Special Issue: Itokawa-Hayabusa and beyond

A newly-identified spectral reflectance signature near the lunar South pole and the South Pole-Aitken Basin

Earth, Planets and Space volume 60, pages 67–74 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Signal analysis of Galileo images of the Moon suggests the presence of an absorption band centered near 0.7 μm in the reflectance spectra of areas located adjacent to the equatorward walls of lunar craters at latitudes ranging from −58 to −78°, and areas contained in the South Pole-Aitken Basin. We propose three potential explanations: an Fe2+→Fe3+ charge transfer transition in oxidized iron in clinopyroxenes (high-Ca bearing pyroxenes) or phyllosilicates (Fe- and Mg-bearing sheet silicates containing adsorbed H2O and interlayer OH−), or an effect of titanium in ilmenite (a common lunar opaque material). No identification of the mineralogy is conclusive. The presence and nature of the absorption feature could be confirmed using AMICA images of the lunar far side from the Japanese mission Hayabusa, spectroscopic results from the Japanese mission Selene scheduled for launch in 2007, or the Moon Mineralology Mapper on the Indian mission Chandrayaan-1.

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Author notes

  1. Faith Vilas

    Present address: MMT Observatory, University of Arizona, P.O. Box 210065, Tucson, Arizona, 85721, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. NASA Johnson Space Center/KR, Houston, Texas, 77058, USA

    Faith Vilas & Wendell W. Mendell

  2. Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA

    Elizabeth A. Jensen

  3. Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, Maryland, 20723, USA

    Deborah L. Domingue

  4. Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742, USA

    Lucy A. McFadden

  5. Department of Geology, College of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina, 29424, USA

    Cassandra J. Runyon

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  1. Faith Vilas
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  3. Deborah L. Domingue
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Correspondence to Faith Vilas.

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Vilas, F., Jensen, E.A., Domingue, D.L. et al. A newly-identified spectral reflectance signature near the lunar South pole and the South Pole-Aitken Basin. Earth Planet Sp 60, 67–74 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352763

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