The Moon Has a Tail!

The moon has a long sodium tail, discovered during the 1998 Leonid meteor shower. This tail is visible around the new moon and is formed by sodium atoms from the moon's exosphere, which is a thin atmosphere. The sodium is released through outgassing and sputtering, then swept away by solar wind. Studies have shown that the tail's brightness remains constant, but NASA's LADEE mission found that sodium levels vary with the lunar cycle and meteor showers increase sodium density. Despite years of study, there is still much to learn about the moon's tail.

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