According to the reading
passage, transient lunar phenomena, also called TLPs, are changes in the color
of small areas of the Moon. The reading passage mentioned three examples of
hypotheses about causes of TLPs. However, the lecturer doesn’t agree with these
hypotheses for few the following reasons.
First, the lecturer
explained that cloud of lunar gas is not the cause of TLPs. The reading passage
said that TLPs are mostly seen in the vicinity of craters and the emission of
radon gas was detected near a crater as well. But, the lecturer argued that it
is not known how much radon gas was emitted. Also, the emission was not big
enough to be seen in the Earth.
Second, the lecturer
argued that clouds of dust didn’t cause TLPs. To be observed in the Earth, he
argues that the dust storm should be very large. In contrast, recent studies
show that there is no indication of that large of an
amount of dust on the surface of the Moon. He goes on
to argue that according to a report of an
astronomer, some parts of the moon are even free
of fine dust particles.
Lastly, the lecturer
contended that there is no evidence that solar radiation caused TLPs. When the
scientists actually compared the solar cycle with the cycle and durations of
TLPs, scientists found that actually the two more often don’t consist. So unlike the author’s point, there is no correlation
between solar radiation and TLPs.