Abstract
Sky and Telescope of September contains a short note on this subject which deals with a suggestion made by R. Khan, Hyderabad, in Popular Astronomy of une. This suggestion is that would occur on the portion of the moon's surface that is lighted up by earthshine, should there be any appreciable atmosphere on our satellite. While it would not be possible to observe the auroral streamers, he suggests that a study of the spectrum of the earthshine on the moon might reveal the presence of the stronger of the forbidden lines of oxygen and nitrogen which are characteristic of auroras. Simultaneous spectra of neighbouring regions of the sky should also be obtained to avoid confusion between lunar and terrestrial auroral light. Prof. J. Kaplan, University of California, not only supports the suggestion but also enlarges upon it. He points out that direct photographs made with infra-red sensitive plates and filters would record the auroral band at 15,000 A. due to ionized nitrogen. Variations in such photographs would reveal the presence of the aurora; they would require shorter exposure times, and would also be easier to obtain than the corresponding Spectra.
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Lunar Auroras. Nature 158, 907 (1946). https://doi.org/10.1038/158907a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/158907a0