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New discoveries from MESSENGER and insights into Mercury's exosphere
Author(s) -
Vervack R. J.,
Killen R. M.,
McClintock W. E.,
Merkel A. W.,
Burger M. H.,
Cassidy T. A.,
Sarantos M.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2016gl071284
Subject(s) - exosphere , mercury (programming language) , astrobiology , ionization , physics , astronomy , astrophysics , ion , quantum mechanics , computer science , programming language
For most of the orbital phase of the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission, a regular search for weakly emitting or less abundant species in Mercury's exosphere resulted in nondetections. However, during the final Earth year of the mission, emission from multiple lines of manganese, aluminum, and ionized calcium was detected. These observations validate the detection of a single line of ionized calcium during the third MESSENGER Mercury flyby, provide definitive confirmation for weak aluminum detections in ground‐based observations, and represent the discovery of manganese in Mercury's exosphere. These detections occurred over a limited range of predawn local times and Mercury true anomaly angles (0°–70°), and each has a distinct spatial distribution. Equally interesting is the absence of detectable emission from oxygen at limits well below the levels reported for Mariner 10.