Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2000
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2000dps....32.6501a&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS Meeting #32, #65.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 32, p.1639
Other
Scientific paper
The sodium and potassium column density ratio in the exosphere of Mercury is observed to be much higher than observed Na/K in other solar system objects, such as the Moon and Io. Past observations found the ratio to be between 80 and 100 near solar minimum, and ~ 190 near solar maximum. Based on lunar and meteoritic samples where Na/K ~ 13, the sputtered Na/K should theoretically be less than 22 and greater than 7. Spectral data collected at irregular intervals during the past ten years were analyzed in an effort to understand the large observed Na/K ratio in Mercury's exosphere and determine its correlation with solar activity. The data were obtained from the stellar spectrograph on the McMath Pierce telescope with an image slicer. Column densities of Na and K in Mercury's atmosphere were calculated from the sodium and potassium emission intensities, the noise in the spectra was calculated using the rms deviation of the spectral continuum in a region free of Fraunhofer lines. Based on previous results, we expected a correlation between Na and K column densities with solar activity and radiation pressure. No evidence was found to support any correlation between Na and K column densities and solar activity. We used a new emission line extraction method to determine correlation between Na and K column densities and solar radiation pressure but again, none was found. We discuss possible source and sink processes for the Na and K in Mercury's exosphere that can explain the large observed ratio of Na/K. This work was supported by the 1999 Lunar and Planetary Institute summer internship program.
Anderson-Munford C. M.
Killen Rosemary
Morgan Th.
Potter Andrew E.
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