The opposition effect of the moon: the contribution of coherent backscatter.

摘要: The opposition effect, the sharp surge in brightness of an astronomical object observed near zero phase angle, which has been known for more than a century, generally explained by shadow hiding. reflectances several Apollo lunar soil samples have measured as function angle linearly and circularly polarized light. All exhibited decrease linear polarization ratio increase circular peak. This provides unequivocal proof that most effect is caused coherent backscatter, not result major implications interpretation photometric observations bodies solar system, including Earth.