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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 35, L03201, doi:10.1029/2007GL032337, 2008

Imaging the sources and full extent of the sodium tail of the planet Mercury

Jeffrey Baumgardner

Center for Space Physics, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA


Jody Wilson

Center for Space Physics, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA


Michael Mendillo

Center for Space Physics, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA


Abstract

Observations of sodium emission from Mercury can be used to describe the spatial and temporal patterns of sources and sinks in the planet's surface-boundary-exosphere. We report on new data sets that provide the highest spatial resolution of source regions at polar latitudes, as well as the extraordinary length of a tail of escaping Na atoms. The tail's extent of ∼1.5 degrees (nearly 1400 Mercury radii) is driven by radiation pressure effects upon Na atoms sputtered from the surface in the previous ∼15 hours. Wide-angle filtered-imaging instruments are thus capable of studying the time history of sputtering processes of sodium and other species at Mercury from ground-based observatories in concert with upcoming satellite missions to the planet. Plasma tails produced by photo-ionization of Na and other gases in Mercury's neutral tails may be observable by in-situ instruments.

Received 15 October 2007; accepted 5 December 2007; published 2 February 2008.

Keywords: mercury; sodium; tail.

Index Terms: 6235 Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects: Mercury; 5405 Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Atmospheres (0343, 1060); 5421 Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Interactions with particles and fields; 5470 Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Surface materials and properties; 5464 Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Remote sensing.

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Citation: Baumgardner, J., J. Wilson, and M. Mendillo (2008), Imaging the sources and full extent of the sodium tail of the planet Mercury, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L03201, doi:10.1029/2007GL032337.