  Due to the high absorption of solar wind plasma on the lunar dayside, a large
scale wake structure is formed downstream of the Moon. However, recent in-situ
observations have revealed the presence of protons in the near-lunar wake (100
km to 200 km from the surface). The solar wind, either directly or after
interaction with the lunar surface (including magnetic anomalies), is the
source of these protons in the near-wake region. Using the entire data from the
SWIM sensor of the SARA experiment onboard Chandrayaan-1, we analysed the
velocity distribution of the protons observed in the near-lunar wake. The
average velocity distribution functions, computed in the solar wind rest frame,
were further separated based on the angle between the upstream solar wind
velocity and the IMF. Several proton populations were identified from the
velocity distribution and their possible entry mechanism were inferred based on
the characteristics of the velocity distribution. These entry mechanisms
include (i) diffusion of solar wind protons into the wake along IMF, (ii) the
solar wind protons with finite gyro-radii that are aided by the wake boundary
electric field, (iii) solar wind protons with gyro-radii larger than lunar
radii from the tail of the solar wind velocity distribution, and (iv)
scattering of solar wind protons from the dayside lunar surface or from
magnetic anomalies. In order to gain more insight into the entry mechanisms
associated with different populations, backtracing is carried out for each of
these populations. For most of the populations, the source of the protons
obtained from backtracing is found to be in agreement with that inferred from
the velocity distribution. There are few populations that could not be
explained by the known mechanisms and remain unknown.

Space Physics