Abstract
The internal structures are the key to understand the surface evolution of the Moon. However, the study of such kind is absent. In this study, the Chang'e-2 microwave radiometer data are employed to explore the internal structures in the highlands of the western lunar farside combined with the FeO+TiO2 abundance data and the rock abundance data. The results are as follows. First, a new view on the cratering mechanism is proposed according to the brightness temperature (TB) performances and the estimated rock abundances in King, Bruno, and Necho craters. Second, the influential mechanism of the rocks on the TB is initially identified by the thermal anomalies at noon and night. Third, a special hidden hot anomaly centered at (109.4°E, 6.9°N) northwest to King crater is revealed by the 3.0 GHz map at noon and night but its causes are still unclear. Fourth, the cause of the belt anomaly from Bruno crater to Necho crater has likely resulted from the impact ejecta of King crater. Finally, the highlands in the study area are divided into four units with distinct TB performances. Generally, the TB maps show a different view compared with the optical and thermal infrared data, which is important to improve understanding the surface evolution of the Moon.
Highlights
W HEN studying the highlands with the Diviner lunar radiometer data, a belt with fairly high nighttime temperature clearly occurs in the western lunar farside, which originates from Giordano Bruno (Bruno) crater (102.9°E, 36.0°N) through King (120.5°E, 5.0°N) and Necho (123.2°E, 5.3°S) craters, and terminates at the Tsiolkovskiy (129.0°E, 20.4°S) crater [1]–[3]
We proposed that the regions with higher rock abundance (RA) values below the superficial layer indicate a cold temperature in the deep layer both at noon and at night, which postulates a new view about the temperature distribution in the regions with high RA values
The TB, nTB, and dTB maps generated with the CE-2 CELMS data are employed to analyze the internal features of the lunar regolith in the western part of the lunar farside
Summary
W HEN studying the highlands with the Diviner lunar radiometer data, a belt with fairly high nighttime temperature clearly occurs in the western lunar farside, which originates from Giordano Bruno (Bruno) crater (102.9°E, 36.0°N) through King (120.5°E, 5.0°N) and Necho (123.2°E, 5.3°S) craters, and terminates at the Tsiolkovskiy (129.0°E, 20.4°S) crater [1]–[3]. Whether there exists an intrinsic relationship between the thermal anomaly belt and the aforementioned structures, probably internal structures, should be further studied using the data with penetration capabilities. The observations at ultraviolet through the thermal infrared wavelength are rather limited, for the penetration depth of the signals is no more than 10 s μm [9], [10]. In such depths, the in situ regolith is heavily influenced by the space weathering [10], [11]
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