Particle populations in Mercury's magnetosphere

• Observations by Mariner 10 during its first and third flybys showed that Mercury possesses an intrinsic magnetic field resulting in a small magnetosphere that can keep the solar wind from directly interacting with the planet's surface under usual conditions. Since Mercury occupies a large fraction of its magnetosphere, regions of trapped charged particles in the inner magnetosphere, the plasmasphere and the energetic radiation belts, would all be absent. During the first flyby, energetic particle bursts were detected and interpreted as hermean substroms analogous to the terrestrial magnetosphere. Moreover, during this flyby, ULF waves and field-aligned currents were detected in the data. Earth-based observations of Na, K, and Ca populations in the exosphere strongly suggest the existence of dynamic magnetospheric processes at high latitudes interacting with the planet's surface.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Fusion, plasma och rymdfysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Fusion, Plasma and Space Physics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

sodium exosphere

atmosphere

surface

acceleration

photoemission

mariner-10

discovery

substorms

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)