Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p41a1601d&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P41A-1601
Physics
[2740] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetospheric Configuration And Dynamics, [2756] Magnetospheric Physics / Planetary Magnetospheres, [2784] Magnetospheric Physics / Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions, [6235] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Mercury
Scientific paper
On 18 March 2011, MESSENGER became the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury, providing a new opportunity to study the outer boundary of the innermost planet's magnetosphere - the magnetopause. The 12-hour orbital period yields a minimum of four magnetopause crossings per day, which facilitates the investigation of the effect of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) on the magnetopause structure. Here we use data from MESSENGER's Magnetometer (MAG) and Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer (FIPS) to characterize the magnetopause. A minimum variance analysis (MVA) is executed to transform the MAG data into current-sheet coordinates. In this new coordinate system we determine (1) the temporal duration and, with assumptions, the thickness of the magnetopause, (2) the magnetic shear angle across the boundary, and (3) the normal magnetic field across the current sheet, from which we infer the rate of reconnection. FIPS measurements provide a validation of the structure of the magnetopause determined from the MAG data, i.e., whether the magnetopause is magnetically open or closed, on the basis of its permeability to solar wind ions. The results of our analysis indicate that the structure of Mercury's magnetopause is highly responsive to IMF direction and, whenever the shear angle is greater than 90°, is generally open to the solar wind plasma under normal magnetic field components of order 1-10 nT.
Anderson Benjamin J.
Boardsen Scott A.
DiBraccio G. A.
Korth Haje
McNutt Ralph L.
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