An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

A very bright crescent of light glowing on the lunar horizon at → sunset or just before → sunrise. It has been suggested that → lunar dust is transported electrically high into sky, allowing sunlight to scatter and create glows. On the day side of the → Moon, solar → ultraviolet radiation is strong enough to kick → electrons from → dust grains in the lunar soil. Removal of electrons, which have a negative electric charge, leaves the dust with a positive electric charge. Since like charges repel, the positively charged dust particles get pushed away from each other, and the only direction not blocked by more dust is up. In the 1960s, Surveyor probes filmed a glowing cloud floating just above the lunar surface during sunrise. Later, Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan, while orbiting the Moon, recorded a similar phenomenon at the sharp line where lunar day meets night, called the → terminator.

See also: → lunar; → horizon; → glow.