Other
Scientific paper
Sep 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.6703m&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #67.03
Other
Scientific paper
The distribution of sodium D2 emission in Mercury's exosphere was mapped using the McMath-Pierce solar telescope with the 5"x5" image slicer during the period January 10-18, 2008. Strong temporal and spatial variability of the sodium emission was observed on the dayside of the planet. On January 14, 2008, the Ultraviolet and Visible Spectrometer (UVVS) channel of MESSENGER's Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer (MASCS) observed the sodium tail region and captured a single measurement on the dayside of the planet. We present results on the hourly and daily variations of the sodium exosphere in conjunction with results from the first MESSENGER flyby. The ground-based data show asymmetries on Jan 12 and shifts in regions of peak emission that might be connected with ion sputtering. It is difficult to explain the cause of an observed increase in the total emission on Jan 14 and Jan 15 by photon-stimulated desorption (PSD), because the total solar UV flux was mostly constant. Even after accounting for the variations of the interplanetary magnetic field, it is unlikely that the ion-sputtering component would have caused such large variations. This suggests that other physical processes such as ion-enhanced PSD and/or impact vaporization might be playing a role in causing these variations. The MESSENGER tail observations on January 14 are modeled simultaneously with the ground-based dayside data to explain the transport of the Na atoms from the relatively homogeneous dayside exosphere into the tail. The solar wind-magnetosphere influence on release mechanisms is also taken into account. The flux in the Na tail indicates that the portion of exosphere escaping down the tail constitutes only a small fraction of the dayside emission.
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