LUNAR-SURFACE MAGNETIC-FIELDS AND THEIR INTERACTION WITH THE SOLAR-WIND - RESULTS FROM LUNAR PROSPECTOR

The magnetometer and electron reflectometer experiment on the Lunar Pr ospector spacecraft has obtained maps of Lunar crustal magnetic fields and observed the interaction between the solar wind and regions of st rong crustal magnetic fields at high selenographic Latitude (30 degree s S to 80 degrees S) and Low (similar to 100 kilometers) altitude. Ele ctron reflection maps of the regions antipodal to the Imbrium and Sere nitatis impact basins, extending to 80 degrees S Latitude, show that c rustal magnetic fields fill most of the antipodal zones of those basin s. This finding provides further evidence for the hypothesis that basi n-forming impacts result in magnetization of the lunar crust at their antipodes. The crustal magnetic fields of the Imbrium antipode region are strong enough to deflect the solar wind and form a miniature (100 to several hundred kilometers across) magnetosphere, magnetosheath, an d bow shock system.