New research shows the Moon also has electricity

Scientists have discovered electricity in the outermost atmosphere of the Moon as it enters the affected area of ​​the Earth's magnetosphere.

We still know the Moon is a nearly dead object because it does not have geological activities like an active planet. But a new study shows that the satellite is actually more dynamic than we thought, even having electrical interactions rather than being quiet.

Picture 1 of New research shows the Moon also has electricity
Moon taken from the International Space Station (ISS).From this perspective, we see the Moon in the Earth's atmosphere.(Photo: NASA).

The scientists measured the extremely thin atmosphere of the Moon and realized that the object was surrounded by an electrical shell. Electricity in the outermost atmosphere of the Moon seems to be forming and accumulating every time it is behind Earth, at which point our planet obscures the extreme influence from the Sun helping it.

To put it simply, the days of the full moon are also the days when the Moon is behind the Earth most from the Sun , which is when the satellite receives the most electricity from our blue planet. Objects in the universe often have a layer of electricity surrounded and called the ionosphere.

Matter, when it reaches the height of the ionosphere, begins to interact with the outer cosmic vacuum. Here, light rays from stars and cosmic rays will attack those matter particles, stripping electrons from atoms and the rest will form a thin layer of charged or plasma.

Despite its very weak gravitational field, the Moon still has an atmosphere, albeit extremely thin. This atmosphere is already thin and often burned because the gas molecules on the edge always decay radioactively due to the influence of the solar wind, so the electrical shell will have the function to protect the This fragile aura.

Picture 2 of New research shows the Moon also has electricity
The Soviet lunar exploration mission of the Soviet Union in the 1970s gave humanity a great deal of knowledge about the object even though it was not possible to verify it afterwards.(Photo: Roscosmos).

Back in the 1970s, the Soviet Union sent Luna ships 19 and 22 around the Moon and sprayed small amounts of anti-charge materials. As a result the Moon reacted like the Earth, it began to diffuse these substances and settled down, revealing the Moon's ionosphere.

'We have a lot of unknown things about the Moon and its ionosphere is such a thing, we can completely argue because this issue has not been confirmed and conclusive.' Professor Jasper Halekas majored in geophysics and space physics at the University of Iowa, the author of the new study, published in Geophysical Research Letters.

One of the main reasons why this issue is controversial is that the Moon's ionosphere is so weak, it is so weak that it is almost impossible to detect and it is made by the plasma stream from the Sun and Earth. overshadowed. When examining the Moon's electrical crust, we are often disturbed by the properties of the Earth's electromagnetic crust.

Desiring to unravel the mysteries, Halekas and his team mine data from NASA's ARTEMIS, which is exploring the dark surface of the Moon. This spacecraft orbits the Moon in a fairly low orbit to find the interaction of the Sun's influence on the Moon.

Picture 3 of New research shows the Moon also has electricity
The atmosphere of the Moon is very thin and very easily decayed into the universe, but its ionosphere has retained this fragile layer of gas.(Illustration).

On the full moon day, the Moon lies behind the Earth from the Sun and the Earth's magnetic field influences the Moon as a straight line extending from the Sun. In this position, the charge from the Sun will be prevented by the Earth rather than directly interacting with the Moon.

ARTEMIS takes advantage of this brief time to monitor the flow of the plasma and paint a detailed picture of the Moon's ionosphere. It turns out, after the most detailed technical survey ever of the Moon's electrolytic crust, we realized that this crust is millions of times more durable than the Earth's ionosphere.

This is something that sounds like an absurd idea. The moon's electrical layer is thin, but because it is derived from high-density plasma from the Earth, it is very durable and difficult to disintegrate. Halekas describes this shell as bubbling bubbles surrounding the Moon.

To put it simply, the Moon's electrical crust is made up of particles that spread from the Earth and they are very durable. This finding surprised scientists because such a path has never been known before and only exists in theory.

Picture 4 of New research shows the Moon also has electricity
For the first time in history, we learned that the Moon also has an ionosphere like the Earth, although thin as it is very durable.(Illustration).

Researchers are wondering whether other satellites, asteroids or meteors in the Solar System are like that, because most of them are smaller than the Moon. Researcher Sara Russell of the British Museum of Natural History said: 'Other small objects in the Solar System probably have a very thin electrical shell like the Moon.

They are farther from the Sun than our Moon, making it harder to deprive matter like the Moon. If all objects had such an ionosphere, we would look at them with a different look, they would not be quiet and dead, but it turned out that there was also a dull activity that took place very often. '

This study opens up a new direction for future space exploration missions, once we know that the Moon and other moons in the Solar System have a very thin ionosphere, which we will take advantage of. Application of new space exploration technologies.