Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 15, 2026

Experimental Methods of Dust Charging and Mobilization on Surfaces with Exposure to Ultraviolet Radiation or Plasmas
Published on: April 3, 2018
Solar wind neon from Genesis: implications for the lunar noble gas record
Ansgar Grimberg1, Heinrich Baur, Peter Bochsler
1Isotope Geology and Mineral Resources, ETH Zürich NW, Clausiusstrasse 25, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland. grimberg@erdw.ethz.ch
Abstract:
Lunar soils have been thought to contain two solar noble gas components with distinct isotopic composition. One has been identified as implanted solar wind, the other as higher-energy solar particles. The latter was puzzling because its relative amounts were much too large compared with present-day fluxes, suggesting periodic, very high solar activity in the past. Here we show that the depth-dependent isotopic composition of neon in a metallic glass exposed on NASA's Genesis mission agrees with the expected depth profile for solar wind neon with uniform isotopic composition. Our results strongly indicate that no extra high-energy component is required and that the solar neon isotope composition of lunar samples can be explained as implantation-fractionated solar wind.
Related Concept Videos
Circular Orbits and Critical Velocity for Satellites
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) first suggested that the Earth and all other planets orbit the Sun in...
Energy of a Satellite in a Circular Orbit
Kepler's First Law of Planetary Motion
Polish astronomer Nikolaus Copernicus put forth a theory that stated a heliocentric model for the solar system. According to this heliocentric theory, all the planets, including Earth, orbit the Sun in circular orbits.
On the other hand,...
Kepler's Second Law of Planetary Motion
While in an elliptical orbit, the total energy of the planet is conserved. Therefore, the planet slows down when it is at apogee and...
Kepler's Third Law of Planetary Motion
Gravitation

