The brightness distribution over the moon's disk at 6 cm wavelength

On November 27, 1974, a map of the Moon was obtained at 6 cm wavelength with the 100-m-telescope in Effelsberg. The high angular and favourable temperature resolution allowed an interpretation of the observed brightness distribution. The dominant feature of the brightness distribution is the centre-to-limb variation, particularly noticeable in the direction of the poles. The exponent of the commonly adopted cos ()-law, describing the temperature variation across the lunar disk, is determined as 0.4. The North-South variation of the lunar surface temperature is estimated to be 30%; the depth of penetration (L_e) of electromagnetic waves of 6 cm wavelength is found to beL_e 17 m.