Mercury’s magnetospheric magnetic field after the first two MESSENGER flybys

Alexeev, I. I.; Belenkaya, E. S.; Slavin, J. A.; Korth, H.; Anderson, B. J.; Baker, D. N.; Boardsen, S. A.; Johnson, C. L.; Purucker, Michael E.; Sarantos, M.; Solomon, Sean C.

doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2010.01.024

Cited by 112 publications

(138 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…The recent magnetic field measurements of the NASA MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission, operated around Mercury from 2008 to April 2015 (Solomon et al 2007), indicate that Mercury's magnetic dipole moment is offset northward from the planet's centre by 0.2 R M (where R M is Mercury's radius, equal to 2440 km) (Alexeev et al 2010;Anderson et al 2011a). The relative dimension of Mercury with respect to the dimension of its own magnetosphere is much larger than in the Earth's case (see also Fig.…”

Section: Space Weather At Mercurymentioning

confidence: 99%

Planetary space weather: scientific aspects and future perspectives

Plainaki

Lilensten

Radioti

et al. 2016

J. Space Weather Space Clim.

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In this paper, we review the scientific aspects of planetary space weather at different regions of our Solar System, performing a comparative planetology analysis that includes a direct reference to the circum-terrestrial case. Through an interdisciplinary analysis of existing results based both on observational data and theoretical models, we review the nature of the interactions between the environment of a Solar System body other than the Earth and the impinging plasma/radiation, and we offer some considerations related to the planning of future space observations. We highlight the importance of such comparative studies for data interpretations in the context of future space missions (e.g. ESA JUICE; ESA/JAXA BEPI COLOMBO). Moreover, we discuss how the study of planetary space weather can provide feedback for better understanding the traditional circumterrestrial space weather. Finally, a strategy for future global investigations related to this thematic is proposed.

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Section: Space Weather At Mercurymentioning

confidence: 99%

Planetary space weather: scientific aspects and future perspectives

Plainaki

Lilensten

Radioti

et al. 2016

J. Space Weather Space Clim.

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“…Anderson et al (2008Anderson et al ( , 2010 and Uno et al (2009) found a number of dipole representations with moments ranging from 240 to 270 nT-R m 3 and dipole tilts of 5 -12 from the rotation axis, as well as (northward) offset dipole models that fit equally well with reduced dipole moment and negligible tilt. Alexeev et al (2010) modeled the Mariner 10 and MESSENGER flybys, fitting an elaborate external field model to each, individually, concluding that Mercury's internal field is best represented by an axial dipole, with a moment of 196 nT-R m 3 , offset from the planet's center by 405 km (0.17R m )…”

Section: Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Planetary Magnetism

Connerney

2015

Treatise on Geophysics

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“…Alexeev et al (2010) To a rough approximation, the heliopause can also be described as a paraboloid of revolution. Following Alexeev (1986) and Alexeev and Kalegaev (1995), we can consider the heliopause to be a thin dissipative boundary with R 1 ≈ 121.7 AU where the magneticfield value changes abruptly.…”

Section: Necessary Conditions For Dynamo Actionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamo in the Outer Heliosheath: Necessary Conditions

Belenkaya

2015

Sol Phys

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On 25 August 2012 at 121.7 AU, Voyager 1 crossed the heliopause and measured a magnetic field with a strength of 0.4 nT in the very local interstellar medium (VLISM), while in the inner heliosheath it was 0.2 nT. The magnetic-field orientation was close to the spiral, and its direction did not change during the heliopause crossing. Simultaneously with the increase of magnetic-field magnitude at the heliopause, the number of energetic heliospheric particles and the temperature decreased substantially. At the same time, the Galactic cosmic-ray intensity enhanced together with the plasma density (from ≈ 0.002 cm −3 near the termination shock to 0.06 -0.08 cm −3 beyond the heliopause). If an increase of the density in the VLISM corresponding to a decrease in the temperature was expected, the strange behavior of the magnetic field causes doubt: did the heliopause-crossing take place? Here we suggest a dynamo mechanism as a possible reason for the observed magnetic-field behavior. We enumerate the necessary conditions for the dynamo process and analyze the Voyager 1 observations to test whether these conditions hold or not. We show that all preconditions are realized and estimate the energy of the dynamo action potential. We conclude that in principle, this process could work just beyond the heliopause, because differential rotation may exist in the nearest part of the outer heliosheath, in a layer where electric conductivity is high, but lower than the field-aligned conductivity in the surrounding regions and where the rotational kinetic-energy density is comparable with the observed magnetic-energy density. The latter circumstance corresponds to a requirement of dynamo action, for which kinetic energy of rotation provided by the Sun is an energy source for magnetic amplification.

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Mercury’s magnetospheric magnetic field after the first two MESSENGER flybys

Cited by 112 publications

References 41 publications

Planetary space weather: scientific aspects and future perspectives

Planetary space weather: scientific aspects and future perspectives

Planetary Magnetism

Dynamo in the Outer Heliosheath: Necessary Conditions

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