Magnetic studies of lunar rocks indicate that the Moon generated a core dynamo with surface field intensities of ~20 to 110 μT between at least 4.25 and 3.56 billion years ago (Ga). The field subsequently declined to <~4 μT by 3.19 Ga, but it has been unclear whether the dynamo had terminated by this time or just greatly weakened in intensity. We present analyses that demonstrate that the melt ...

Paleomagnetic analyses of lunar samples indicate that the Moon had a dynamo-generated magnetic field with ~50 μT surface field intensities between 3.85 and 3.56 Ga followed by a period of much lower (≤ ~5 μT) intensities that persisted beyond 2.5 Ga. However, we determine herein that there is insufficient energy associated with core convection—the process commonly recognized to generate long-li...

This study investigates various models to represent the gross geometric shape of the Moon. Asymmetric polyaxial geometric modelsnamely three-, fourand six-axial lunar figure are compared and contrasted with the axially symmetric three-axis ellipsoidal model derived from Chang'e 1 and SELENE laser altimetry data. All solutions confirm a hydrostatically stable lunar shape shifted with respect to ...

Micronekton abundance, biomass, and community composition was determined from 58 Cobb trawl samples taken from 2005 to 2008 at several locations in the lee of the Hawaiian Islands. The results indicated a strong influence of the lunar illumination on micronekton abundance and biomass. This effect was evident in shallow night tows and probably was the result of lunar light affecting the nighttim...

Introduction: Lunar meteorites come from random sites on the Moon (including areas not visited by Apollo or Lunar missions) and so are crucial for understanding the development of the whole moon, and as ground truth for lunar remote sensing. Data from the Lunar Prospector and Clementine spacecraft show that, relative to the Apollo and Luna landing sites, most of the lunar surface has low abunda...

Analysis of Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) data provides science results: gravitational physics and ephemeris information from the orbit, lunar science from rotation and solidbody tides, and Earth science. Science from the orbit: Sensitive tests of gravitational physics include the Equivalence Principle, limits on the time variation of the gravitational constant G, and geodetic precession. The equiv...

Unified Lunar Topographic Model B. A. Archinal, M. R. Rosiek, R. L. Kirk, and B. L. Redding .........................................................................27 Update on the Unified Lunar Control Network 2005 B. A. Archinal, M. R. Rosiek, R. L. Kirk, and B. L. Redding .........................................................................28 The Crux Seismic Profiler for Shallow Soundi...

The lunar magma ocean model is a well-established theory of the early evolution of the Moon. By this model, the Moon was initially largely molten and the anorthositic crust that now covers much of the lunar surface directly crystallized from this enormous magma source. We are undertaking a study of the geochemical characteristics of anorthosites from lunar meteorites to test this model. Rare ea...

[1] We report observations by the dual-probe Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with the Sun (ARTEMIS) mission of Moon-related electron and ion signatures obtained above the dayside lunar surface in the terrestrial magnetotail lobes. While the Moon is often thought of as a passive absorber, recent observations from Kaguya, Chandrayaan, Chang’E, ...