Polarimetric and photometric studies of lunar samples

Abstract
The polarization of scattered light has been investigated for lunar samples from six Apollo and two Luna missions. Over a wide range of the phase angle between incidence and observation directions, the light is found to be polarized only either normal (called positive) or parallel (negative) with respect to the incidence/observation plane. The resulting characteristic curves, of degree of polarization versus phase angle, are indicative of surface properties: the maximum value of polarization is inversely proportional to albedo, for dust-covered surfaces, and the slope is inversely proportional to albedo for most surfaces; the width and depth of the negative-going part of the curve indicate the type and complexity of the surface texture, as confirmed by Stereoscan photographs. This information may now be applied to the determination of albedos and surface textures for objects such as asteroids and planetary satellites, for which no samples are available but for which some polarization measurements have been made.

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