Due to Earth's magnetism, there is a force field surrounding the planet, referred to as the magnetosphere, that protects Earth from space weathering and damaging radiation from the sun. Solar wind pushes the magnetosphere and reshapes it, making a long tail on the night side. The plasma sheet within this magnetotail is a region consisting of high energy electrons and ions that may be sourced from Earth and the solar wind.
Previously, scientists mostly focused on the role of high energy ions on the space weathering of the moon and other airless bodies. Solar wind, which is composed of high energy particles such as protons, bombards the lunar surface and is thought to be one of the primary ways in which water has been formed on the moon.
Li and co-authors analyzed the remote sensing data that were collected by the moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument onboard India's Chandrayaan 1 mission between 2008 and 2009. Specifically they assessed the changes in water formation as the moon traversed through Earth's magnetotail, which includes the plasma sheet.
"To my surprise, the remote sensing observations showed that the water formation in Earth's magnetotail is almost identical to the time when the moon was outside of the Earth's magnetotail," said Li."This indicates that, in the magnetotail, there may be additional formation processes or new sources of water not directly associated with the implantation of solar wind protons.
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