LONDON: In a new study, published in Nature International Weekly Journal of Science on Wednesday, scientists from the University of Colorado-Boulder, have found new evidence of an intense cloud of dust orbiting the moon.
The scientists claim that this cloud of dust is a result of small, but extremely fast, comet dust particles colliding with the moon. These particles are believed to be travelling at thousands of miles per hour in a clockwise orbit around the sun, in contrast to the planetary motion that takes place anticlockwise.
It was in 1960 that the first evidence of these dust clouds came from a mission captured by NASA. NASA’s cameras on board an unmanned spacecraft, shot a bright glow during the lunar sunsets, wherein these particles were witnessed.
This time again, NASA’s spacecraft called Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE), which was launched in September of 2013, has collected data from the moon’s surface. In fact, in its 80-day orbit around the moon, LADEE has recorded 140,000 impacts from dust on the moon’s surface.
These dust particles are not unique to the moon. They are also orbiting the Earth. However, the Earth has an atmosphere, which keeps the dust particles away from its surface. Whereas, the moon, in the absence of such atmosphere, has no barrier to block these particles.
Scientists opined that these particles could pose a problem for future space travel to the moon, more so if such travel is planned for a longer duration. These particles might act like sandblasting over time, to the surface of the spacecraft.
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