Diagnostic Simulations of the Lunar Sodium Tail and Bright Spot

Abstract

Since the first discovery of the lunar sodium exosphere from ground observations by Potter and Morgan (1988) and later by Tyler et al. (1988), many authors have studied the features of the lunar sodium exosphere especially around the lunar coma region, as summarized as follows. Due to the high albedo of the Moon, the faint lunar sodium exosphere can be observed only through specially designed lunar coronagraph observations (e.g.,