Discoveries on the lithology of lunar crater central peaks by SELENE Spectral Profiler
Tsuneo Matsunaga(National Institute for Environmental Studies), M. Ohtake(Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), J. Haruyama(Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Yoshiko Ogawa(National Institute for Environmental Studies), Ryosuke Nakamura(National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology), Y. Yokota(Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Tomokatsu Morota(Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Chikatoshi Honda(Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), M. Torii(Fujitsu (Japan)), Masanao Abe(Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), T. Nimura(Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), T. Hiroi(Brown University), Tomoko Arai(National Institute of Polar Research), Kazuto Saiki(The University of Osaka), H. Takeda, Naru Hirata(University of Aizu), Shinsuke Kodama(National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology), Takamitsu Sugihara(Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology), H. Demura(University of Aizu), N. Asada(University of Aizu), J. Terazono(University of Aizu), Hisashi Otake(Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)
The Spectral Profiler (SP) onboard the Japanese SELENE (KAGUYA) spacecraft is now providing global high spectral resolution visible‐near infrared continuous reflectance spectra of the Moon. The reflectance spectra of impact craters on the farside of the Moon reveal lithologies that were not previously identified. The achievements of SP so far include: the most definite detection of crystalline iron‐bearing plagioclase with its characteristic 1.3 μ m absorption band on the Moon; a new interpretation of the lithology of Tsiolkovsky crater central peaks, previously classified as “olivine‐rich,” as mixtures of plagioclase and pyroxene; and the lower limit of Mg number of low‐Ca pyroxene found at Antoniadi crater central peak and peak ring which were estimated through direct comparison with laboratory spectra of natural and synthetic pyroxene samples.