NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) has confirmed the presence of glowing neon gas on the moon’s atmosphere. Neon gas commonly used in electric signs on Earth because of its intense glow. Scientists have speculated on the presence of neon in the lunar atmosphere for decades.
A dense atmosphere like Earth’s is relatively rare in our solar system because an object has to be sufficiently massive to have enough gravity to hold onto it. The LADEE confirms that the moon’s exosphere is made up of mostly helium, argon and neon. The spacecraft conducted systematic measurements of these gases for seven months, which allowed the team to understand how these gases are supplied to the exosphere, and how they are ultimately lost.
LADEE also revealed an unexpected source of some of the helium in the lunar exosphere. This helium is being produced at a rate equivalent to about seven litres per second at standard atmospheric pressure.
- The Moon (or Luna) is the Earth’s only natural satellite and was formed 4.6 billion years ago around some 30–50 million years after the formation of the solar system.
- The Moon is in synchronous rotation with Earth meaning the same side is always facing the Earth.
- The first unmanned mission to the Moon was in 1959 by the Soviet Lunar Program with the first manned landing being Apollo 11 in 1969.
- The Moon has much weaker gravity than Earth, due to its smaller mass, so a person in earth would weigh about one sixth (16.5%) of his weight on Earth.
- The moon is the only extraterrestrial body that has ever been visited by humans.
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