Abstract
Flamm and Lingenfelter are right in pointing out that the flux of particles accompanying solar events, as recorded so far by ground-based (or Earth-bound) experiments, are too low to provide adequate source of excitation for the visibility of daytime luminescence of the lunar surface; for night-time events it is adequate. Whether or not this is so at the distance of the Moon (that is, sufficiently far from the terrestrial magnetosphere) and in all parts of the energy spectrum remains, however, yet to be seen. Possibly the primary solar particles act only as a trigger of the lunar events1. The electromagnetic spectrum of the Sun contains ample energy for excitation ; but its responsibility for transient lunar luminous phenomena seems to be contradicted by the time-lag, from several hours to a few days, indicated by the observation.
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KOPAL, Z. Lunar Luminescence. Nature 205, 1303 (1965). https://doi.org/10.1038/2051303a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2051303a0
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