The microwave radiometers carried by Chang’E 1 and 2 made the first ever microwave study of the Moon in space (@200 and 100 km above lunar surface, respectively). The data, however, was very messy when laid down on a map, and the Chang’E 1 and 2 data sets did not agree! We will discuss what messed up the data and how the trouble could be fixed. The corrected data showed compatibility between the microwave and optical maps and resulted in the discovery of cold microwave spots dotting the Moon in night time. We will also discuss what could be the cause of these spots.
Prof. Kwing Lam Chan is currently Director of Space Science Institute of the Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST). He obtained his B.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Physics from University of California, Berkeley, and Princeton University. Starting from cosmology, he has also worked on galaxies, stars, the Sun, planets, the Moon, and Earth’s atmosphere. His professional experience includes: IBM Watson Research Center (Yorktown Heights, New York), Queen’s University (Kingston, Ontario), and Goddard Space Flight Center/NASA (Greenbelt, Maryland). He taught in the Mathematics Department of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in the period 1994-2015. He was selected a member of the Science Application Committee of the China Lunar Exploration program in 2007. He is also Director of the Lunar and Planetary Science Laboratory of MUST.
Host: Xing Wei