The shape of Mercury's south-polar region

Details The shape of Mercury's south-polar region The shape of Mercury's south-polar region

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p41a1575p&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P41A-1575

Physics

[5430] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Interiors, [5462] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Polar Regions, [6999] Radio Science / General Or Miscellaneous

Scientific paper

We present measurements of the radius of Mercury over the planet's southern hemisphere within 30° of the south pole. These measurements, derived from occultations of MESSENGER's radio frequency (RF) transmissions, are the first such measurements southward of 30°S, a region beyond the reach of the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA). The occultation start and end times, recovered with 0.3-s accuracy or better by fitting edge-diffraction patterns to the RF power history, are used to estimate Mercury's radius at the tangent point of the RF path. The occultation-analysis techniques were calibrated by comparing hundreds of occultation-derived radii to MLA measurements in Mercury's northern hemisphere, indicating a measurement accuracy of 0.4 km (one standard deviation). The southern-hemisphere data provide initial estimates of the flattening of the south-pole region and the north-south offset between Mercury's center of figure (COF) and center of mass (COM). A high degree of flattening would complement the north-polar depression and may indicate a rotationally driven equatorial bulge as the source for the degree-2 shape of Mercury. Alternatively, the lack of south-pole flattening would suggest that the north-pole depression may be a remnant of impacts or mantle convective flow. The presence or lack of a north-south COM-COF offset contributes to our understanding of the processes that shape Mercury's rotational and interior dynamics.

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