Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Jasinski JM
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7525509 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Jasinski Jamie M JM Regoli Leonardo H LH Cassidy Timothy A TA Dewey Ryan M RM Raines Jim M JM Slavin James A JA Coates Andrew J AJ Gershman Daniel J DJ Nordheim Tom A TA Murphy Neil N
Nature communications 20200929 1
Mercury has a global dayside exosphere, with measured densities of 10<sup>-2</sup> cm<sup>-3</sup> at ~1500 km. Here we report on the inferred enhancement of neutral densities (<10<sup>2</sup> cm<sup>-3</sup>) at high altitudes (~5300 km) by the MESSENGER spacecraft. Such high-altitude densities cannot be accounted for by the typical exosphere. This event was observed by the Fast-Imaging Plasma Spectrometer (FIPS), which detected heavy ions of planetary origin that were recently ionized, and "pi ...[more]