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Some Thoughts Concerning a Publication in Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 52, Issue 8 of 2025 April 28
JOA 2026, Vol. 16, No. 1, Page 6 Author(s): Joachim SiegertAbstract: The following article reviews a publication in the Geophysical Research Letters (GRS article) raising the idea that meteoroidal impacts on the Moon’s surface can produce low altitude dust clouds, leading to gradual (long-lasting) star dis- and reappearances during lunar occultations. The data source for this conclusion is the Lunar Occultation Archive (LOA). The main intention of this article is to evaluate the usefulness of LOA as a solid data base for the conclusions of the GRS article. This is not a scientific article in a stricter sense. It is more a discussion about how to evaluate the background of the GRS article and reflects the thoughts of the author about the evaluation results and some considerations aside that evaluation. The GRS article includes the interesting hypothesis about dust possibly being responsible for recent crashes of spacecraft on the Moon and the chances to detect this phenomenon by means of occultations of stars. This hypothesis is not evaluated here but some remarks about it are included.