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Evolution of space weathering and its components - effect of solar wind and microimpacts on reflectance spectra of airless planetary surfaces
Flanderová, Kateřina ; Ďurech, Josef (advisor) ; Hendrix, Amanda R. (referee) ; Vilas, Faith (referee)
Our knowledge about mineralogy and physical conditions on airless planetary bodies in the Solar system is based mainly on remotely captured reflectance spectra. However, reflectance spectra are influenced by many effects, a major one is the space weathering. The term space weathering refers to a set of processes, also called space weathering agents, mainly the solar wind irradiation and micrometeoroid impacts, which on long timescales darken the surfaces and alter reflectance spectra of airless bodies. Here, I focused on finding the difference between the effect of the two, above-mentioned, space weathering agents on reflectance spectra of silicate-rich airless planetary bodies. Firstly, I studied areas of magnetic anomalies on the Moon, so-called lunar swirls. The swirls' spectra are influenced mostly by micrometeoroid impacts. I compared these spectra to spectra of surrounding areas, influenced by both the space weathering agents. The results suggested that there is a difference in the effect of micrometeoroid impacts and the combination of the two space weathering agents. There are also additional effects that contribute to the evolution of spectra on the Moon, such as the position with respect to the near and far side, which relates to the shape of Earth's magnetotail and an increased shielding of the solar wind...
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