Everyone is familiar with the sound of shock waves that occur when planes, meteorites, or other objects exceed the speed of sound. A new study has shown that similar sonic booms are being heard on the moon right now.
What is causing these sounds? Flying supersonic alien saucers? Aircraft based in a secret base on the dark side of the moon? Who or what publishes them?
"They may represent the smallest shock waves in the solar system, and possibly even the smallest shock waves that can be formed," said physicist Jasper Hylekas of the University of Iowa, who tried to characterize the sounds picked up by NASA's two lunar probes. "Artemis".
Two of the five NASA spacecraft that were launched in 2007 and completed their missions have been transferred to elliptical orbits of the Moon around the Lagrange points, to places where the gravitational forces of the Earth and the Moon create the centripetal force needed to orbit while keeping the spacecraft in a stable position.
So what amazing sounds did the travelers of "Artemis" hear? It turns out that they are the result of the collision of the solar wind with the very weak magnetic field of the moon. The "weak" magnetic field of the Moon is equal to about 1% of the strength of the Earth's magnetic field. However, it is strong enough and when it collides with cosmic particles, it creates mini-shock waves in a mysterious region between the light and dark sides of the moon.
“In principle, we do not understand how such an insignificant magnetic field can generate something like that. By all accounts, the solar wind had a direct impact on it,”Haylekas said.
The physicist says that planets, satellites and asteroids that have magnetic fields are bombarded by the solar wind, so it is very important to understand the impact these collisions and mini-sonic booms can have on spaceships and astronauts. And it's best to learn about such things in an environment as close as on the moon.
It looks like NASA will now start designing special helmets to prevent astronauts from sticking their fingers into their ears.
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Voronina Svetlana