Physics
Scientific paper
May 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agusm.u24a..02m&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2007, abstract #U24A-02
Physics
0328 Exosphere, 6235 Mercury
Scientific paper
Mercury's surface-bound exosphere is the interface between the planet's surface and the external stimuli that interact with it. Its composition and structure are controlled by surface, magnetosphere, and solar-wind processes. Prior to the MESSENGER mission the exosphere was known to contain H, He, and O from Mariner 10 observations, as well as Na, K, and Ca that were discovered during ground-based observations. Na has been extensively studied since its discovery in 1985, including observations of a neutral Na tail first reported in 2002. Undetected species, including Mg, Fe, Al, and S, are also expected to exist in the exosphere. MESSENGER's initial flyby of Mercury, which occurred on January 14, 2008, offered the first opportunity to measure the planet's neutral tail from space. As the spacecraft approached the planet from the nightside, the UltraViolet and Visible Spectrometer (UVVS) channel of the Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer (MASCS) scanned the tail beginning at altitudes of 24,500 km behind Mercury's nightside surface and covering a region of space approximately three planet diameters tall and centered on the Sun-Mercury line. The UVVS measured emissions from Na during the entire observation. It also observed neutral hydrogen beginning approximately 5,000 km above the nightside surface. The spatial distributions of both species were seen to be asymmetric, with enhanced densities occurring in the northern hemisphere. UVVS observations of Ca, which were made as the spacecraft traversed the nightside exosphere, exhibited enhanced emission toward the dawn terminator, with north-south behavior similar to that of Na and H. These observations suggest that the relatively high-energy source processes that give rise to species observed in the tail were localized near the northern and morning hemispheres during the flyby. This inference is supported by magnetic field observations made with the MESSENGER Magnetometer, which observed a strong radial component of the interplanetary magnetic field (Bx) directed antisunward after MESSENGER passed outside the magnetosphere. This magnetic field orientation is expected to result in a greater number of open field lines in the northern hemisphere, preferentially allowing solar wind plasma to impinge upon the surface in that region.
Bradley Eric Todd
Izenberg Noam R.
Killen Rosemary Margaret
Kochte M. C.
Lankton Mark R.
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