First observation of a mini-magnetosphere above a lunar magnetic anomaly using energetic neutral atoms
Martin Wieser, Stas Barabash, Yoshifumi Futaana, M Holmstr\"om, Anil, Bhardwaj, R Sridharan, M. B. Dhanya, Audrey Schaufelberger, Peter Wurz,, Kazushi Asamura

TL;DR
This paper reports the first imaging of a lunar mini-magnetosphere above a magnetic anomaly using energetic neutral atoms, revealing a new class of magnetic phenomena on airless bodies.
Contribution
It introduces a novel observational technique using backscattered neutral atoms to image mini-magnetospheres on the Moon.
Findings
Mini-magnetosphere is 360 km across at the lunar surface.
A surrounding plasma flux region 300 km thick is observed.
High-energy hydrogen atoms reveal the mini-magnetosphere's structure.
Abstract
The Sub-keV Atom Reflecting Analyzer (SARA) instrument on the Indian Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft has produced for the first time an image of a lunar magnetic anomaly in backscattered hydrogen atoms. The image shows that a partial void of the solar wind, a mini-magnetosphere, is formed above the strong magnetic anomaly near the Crisium antipode. The mini-magnetosphere is 360 km across at the surface and is surrounded by a 300-km-thick region of enhanced plasma flux that results from the solar wind flowing around the mini-magnetosphere. The mini-magnetosphere is visible only in hydrogen atoms with energy exceeding 150 eV. Fluxes with energies below 100 eV do not show corresponding spatial variations. While the high-energy atoms result from the backscattering process, the origin of the low-energy component is puzzling. These observations reveal a new class of objects, mini-magnetospheres, and…
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