The Structure of Mercury’s Magnetic Field from MESSENGER’s First Flyby

Details The Structure of Mercury’s Magnetic Field from MESSENGER’s First Flyby The Structure of Mercury’s Magnetic Field from MESSENGER’s First Flyby

Jul 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008sci...321...82a&link_type=abstract

Science, Volume 321, Issue 5885, pp. 82- (2008).

Physics

69

Scientific paper

During its first flyby of Mercury, the MESSENGER spacecraft measured the planet’s near-equatorial magnetic field. The field strength is consistent to within an estimated uncertainty of 10% with that observed near the equator by Mariner 10. Centered dipole solutions yield a southward planetary moment of 230 to 290 nanotesla RM3 (where RM is Mercury’s mean radius) tilted between 5° and 12° from the rotation axis. Multipole solutions yield non-dipolar contributions of 22% to 52% of the dipole field magnitude. Magnetopause and tail currents account for part of the high-order field, and plasma pressure effects may explain the remainder, so that a pure centered dipole cannot be ruled out.

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