Insights into the Ion Composition and Plasma Environment of Planet Mercury from MESSENGER

Details Insights into the Ion Composition and Plasma Environment of Planet Mercury from MESSENGER Insights into the Ion Composition and Plasma Environment of Planet Mercury from MESSENGER

Dec 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufm.u12a..08z&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #U12A-08

Physics

1060 Planetary Geochemistry (5405, 5410, 5704, 5709, 6005, 6008), 3672 Planetary Mineralogy And Petrology (5410), 5410 Composition (1060, 3672), 5435 Ionospheres (2459), 5494 Instruments And Techniques

Scientific paper

MESSENGER has provided the first measurements of the composition and dynamic properties of ions near Mercury. Here, we focus on observations made with the Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer (FIPS), the plasma sensor of the Energetic Particle and Plasma Spectrometer (EPPS) instrument, during MESSENGER's first two flybys of Mercury. This instrument has a near-hemispheric instantaneous field of view and provided plasma and compositional parameters for particles from 50 eV to 20 keV per charge throughout the first MESSENGER flyby on January 14, 2008, as it is expected to do as well during the second flyby on October 6, 2008. We first discuss the global distribution of plasma in Mercury's environment. We then report compositional measurements and spatial distributions of heavy ions, with mass up to Fe, originating from Mercury. We particularly focus on the distribution of Na and water-group ions. Finally, we discuss doubly charged ions and the implications of these results for our understanding of the intensive solar wind interaction with Mercury's surface.

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