Variations in Mercury's Sodium Exosphere Taken at the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope in January 2008 in Support of the MESSENGER Flybys

Details Variations in Mercury's Sodium Exosphere Taken at the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope in January 2008 in Support of the MESSENGER Flybys Variations in Mercury's Sodium Exosphere Taken at the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope in January 2008 in Support of the MESSENGER Flybys

Dec 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufm.u21a0032m&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #U21A-0032

Physics

0328 Exosphere, 6235 Mercury

Scientific paper

Ground-based observations of the sodium exospheric emission at Mercury taken at the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope at Kitt Peak, Arizona, were conducted during the period of January 10-18, 2008. This dataset brackets observations taken with the Ultraviolet and Visible Spectrometer (UVVS) on The Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer (MASCS) instrument on board the MESSENGER spacecraft during the first flyby of the planet, January 14, 2008. From the ground, the distribution of sodium D2 was mapped using a 5"x5" image slicer. Strong temporal and spatial variability of the sodium emission was observed on the dayside of the planet. One particularly interesting feature was seen on January 12, when exceptionally good seeing allowed a data coverage at intervals of 2 to 3 hours. Variations of the sodium D2 emission were observed peaking at different regions of the dayside exosphere near the sub solar point and/or near one or both poles. There was little north-south asymmetry in the ground-based dayside sodium exosphere on January 14 but there was an indication of a possible asymmetry observed in the tail by MASCS. Our goal is to model the observed sodium exospheric variations. Photon-stimulated desorption of sodium is expected to induce a maximum sodium density near the sub solar point. Sputtering in the polar cusps should produce high latitude sodium emissions, but solar radiation pressure may also sweep sodium to high latitudes, and impact vaporization by meteorites and meteors would induce local and transient density enhancements in the exosphere. We discuss the observed variations, and present results of the modeling of the sodium distribution using a Monte Carlo model developed by Crider and Killen.

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