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| Titel |
Energetic Particles in Mercury’s Magnetosphere During MESSENGER’s Flybys |
| VerfasserIn |
G. C. Ho, R. E. Gold, S. M. Krimigis, B. J. Anderson, D. N. Baker, R. L. McNutt, J. A. Slavin, R. D. Starr, S. C. Solomon |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2009
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 11 (2009) |
| Datensatznummer |
250023501
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| Zusammenfassung |
| The MESSENGER spacecraft last year made the first direct observations of Mercury’s
magnetosphere in the more than 30 years since the Mariner 10 encounters. During
MESSENGER’s first flyby on 14 January 2008, the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) was
northward immediately prior to and following MESSENGER’s equatorial passage through
this small magnetosphere. The Energetic Particle Spectrometer (EPS), one of two
sensors on the Energetic Particles and Plasma Spectrometer (EPPS) instrument that
responds to electrons from ~ 35 keV to ~ 1 MeV and ions from ~ 35 keV to ~ 3
MeV, saw no increases in particle intensity above instrumental background (~ 5
particles/cm2-sr-s-keV at 45 keV) during its entire magnetospheric passage. Moreover, during
MESSENGER’s second flyby on 6 October 2008, when there was a steady southward
IMF and intense reconnection was observed between the planet’s magnetic field
and the IMF, EPS still did not observe large bursts of energetic electrons such as
those reported by Mariner 10 from its 1974 encounter. MESSENGER’s X-Ray
Spectrometer (XRS), however, did report low-energy (~ 10 keV) electrons impinging on
its detectors during both flybys. In this paper, we will summarize the energetic
particle observations made by EPS and XRS from MESSENGER, and we will also
revisit the observations made by Mariner 10 in the context of these new results. |
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