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Large Disks as Representations for the Lunar Mascons with Implications Regarding Theories of Formation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 February 2017

P. M. Muller  and
W. L. Sjogren
P. M. Muller
Affiliation:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, U.S.A.
W. L. Sjogren
Affiliation:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, U.S.A.

Abstract

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It is shown that large (hundred-km diam) near-surface disks are capable of accurately representing the lunar mascons with very few parameters. While this does not ‘prove’ that the mascons are excess mass in disk form, it is highly suggestive. It is pointed out that virtually every proposed mascon theory is consistent with a disk shape for the excess mass. The tentative hypothesis is advanced that the mascons are, in fact, disk shaped mass excesses. The conditions for mascon formation and preservation are reviewed in the light of this hypothesis.

Type
Part II: Scientific Papers
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 47: The Moon , 1972 , pp. 35 - 40
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1972 

References

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