India’s Chandrayaan-2 lunar orbiter has made the first-ever observation of the effects of the Sun’s Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) on the Moon, using one of its on board scientific instruments, the Chandra’s Atmospheric Composition Explorer-2 (CHACE-2).

“Observations from CHACE-2 showed an increase in the total pressure of the dayside lunar exosphere (very thin atmosphere) when the CME impacted the Moon,” a statement by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on October 18.

The total number density, that is the number of neutral atoms or molecules present in an environment per unit volume, from these observations showed a high order of increase. “This increase is consistent with earlier theoretical models, which predicted such an effect, but CHACE-2 onboard Chandrayaan-2 has obse

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