Publication Date:
2017-03-30
Description:
We report the analysis of short-term ground-based observations of the exospheric Na emission (D1 and D2 lines) from Mercury, which was characterized by two high-latitude peaks confined near the magnetospheric cusp footprints. During a series of scheduled observations from the THEMIS telescope, achieved by scanning the whole planet, we implemented a series of extra measurements by recording the Na emission from a narrow North-South strip only, centered above the two emission peaks. Our aim was to inspect the existence of short-term variations, which were never analyzed before from ground-based observations, and their possible correlation with IMF variations. Though Mercury possesses a miniature magnetosphere, characterized by fast reconnection events that develops on a timescale of few minutes, ground-based observations show that the exospheric Na emission pattern can be globally stable for a prolonged period (some days), but also exhibits fluctuations in the time range of tens of minutes.
Print ISSN:
0094-8276
Electronic ISSN:
1944-8007
Topics:
Geosciences
,
Physics
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