Mercury’s Atmosphere: A Surface-Bounded Exosphere |
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| Authors: | Deborah L Domingue Patrick L Koehn Rosemary M Killen Ann L Sprague Menelaos Sarantos Andrew F Cheng Eric T Bradley William E McClintock |
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| Institution: | (1) The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723, USA;(2) Department of Physics and Astronomy, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI 48197, USA;(3) University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA;(4) Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 86721, USA;(5) Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80303, USA |
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| Abstract: | The existence of a surface-bounded exosphere about Mercury was discovered through the Mariner 10 airglow and occultation experiments.
Most of what is currently known or understood about this very tenuous atmosphere, however, comes from ground-based telescopic
observations. It is likely that only a subset of the exospheric constituents have been identified, but their variable abundance
with location, time, and space weather events demonstrate that Mercury’s exosphere is part of a complex system involving the
planet’s surface, magnetosphere, and the surrounding space environment (the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field).
This paper reviews the current hypotheses and supporting observations concerning the processes that form and support the exosphere.
The outstanding questions and issues regarding Mercury’s exosphere stem from our current lack of knowledge concerning the
surface composition, the magnetic field behavior within the local space environment, and the character of the local space
environment. |
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| Keywords: | Atmospheres Exosphere Mercury Space physics Space weathering MESSENGER |
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