[meteorite-list] Micro Planet - APOD

[Steve Schoner]

Upon examining lunar dust on my Terry Slezac Apollo 11 dust tape, I notice that these beads get progressively smaller and more numerous.   Many are much smaller than the one shown in this photo. 

It has been noted that solar wind creates an electrical charge on the lunar surface, and hence dust becomes levitated to float above the surface by electrostatic action.   But the finer particles could be accelerated by solar wind to leave the moon.    Also, more importantly are meteoroid impacts that create these spheres.  

Certainly they must be ejected into space.

Now I wonder how much of that lunar dust reaches the earth in the form of "cosmic dust."   This dust does not burn up but is so small that slows at very high altitude and then drifts down.   There has to be a significant percentage of lunar dust in so called "cosmic dust."

I wonder if anyone has explored the possibility of such?

Steve Schoner
IMCA #4470

Message: 13
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 2010 01:36:23 -0800
From: Meteorites USA <eric at meteoritesusa.com>
Subject: [meteorite-list] Micro Planet - APOD
To: Meteorite-list <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Message-ID: <4B499F97.7040102 at meteoritesusa.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Soooo Cool!

Looks like a tiny planet...

A Spherule from the Earth's Moon
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100110.html

"...Explanation: How did this spherule come to be on the Moon? When a 
meteorite strikes the Moon, the energy of the impact melts some of the 
splattering rock, a fraction of which might cool into tiny glass beads. 
Many of these glass beads were present in lunar soil samples returned to 
Earth by the Apollo missions. Pictured above is one such glass spherule 
that measures only a quarter of a millimeter across. This spherule is 
particularly interesting because it has been victim to an even smaller 
impact. A miniature crater is visible on the upper left, surrounded by a 
fragmented area caused by the shockwaves of the small impact. By dating 
many of these impacts, astronomers can estimate the history of cratering 
on our Moon..."

Enjoy...

Regards,
Eric Wichman
Meteorites USA



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