Other
Scientific paper
May 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agusm.p33b..03s&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2009, abstract #P33B-03
Other
2756 Planetary Magnetospheres (5443, 5737, 6033), 5421 Interactions With Particles And Fields, 5440 Magnetic Fields And Magnetism, 6235 Mercury, 7835 Magnetic Reconnection (2723, 7526)
Scientific paper
MESSENGER's first and second flybys of Mercury, on 14 January and 6 October 2008, have greatly extended our knowledge of the closest planetary magnetosphere to the Sun. These very low-latitude flybys have revealed a miniature magnetosphere that is immersed in a cloud of planetary ions extending beyond the dayside bow shock. The magnetosphere and the planetary ions are highly responsive to interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) direction. Under strong northward IMF, the highest flux of high-altitude planetary ions is on the dusk flank of the tail, where they are accelerated by the fast flow in the magnetosheath and cross the magnetopause due to their large gyro-radii and the dawnward - v x B motional electric field. Evidence for Kelvin-Helmholtz boundary waves is also present in this flank region of the tail. Ultra-low-frequency (ULF) wave activity is widespread at low latitudes, possibly a result of the large loss cones for magnetospheric ions associated with the weakness of the magnetic field at the surface. Diamagnetic decreases in the magnetic field are observed close to the planet and in a "boundary layer" just inside of the forward magnetopause. Under southward IMF the high- altitude maximum in the planetary ions moves to the dawn side of the magnetosphere with the change in the -v x B motional electric field from dawnward to duskward. The intensity of the ULF waves grows for southward IMF, and the diamagnetic depressions near the planet become deeper. The boundary layer inside the magnetopause is still present, but it is less prominent against the more disturbed background magnetic field. The dawn magnetopause was threaded by a strong magnetic field normal to its surface that implies a reconnection rate ~10 times that typical at Earth. Large flux transfer events are observed in the magnetosheath for southward IMF, and plasmoids and traveling compression regions are present in the magnetotail. These observations have important implications for the dynamics of Mercury's magnetosphere relative to those of other planets.
Acuña Mario Humberto
Anderson Benjamin J.
Baker Daniel N.
Benna Marcus
Boardsen Scott A.
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